Women In Black
by Shilyn
Summary: AU. Kagome and Sango are agents working for a secretive group that monitors, controls, and polices demon-kind. Agent-demon relationships are forbidden. What happens when Kagome falls in love with the prime suspect, the hanyou Inuyasha?
1. On Patrol

Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha in any way, or any of its character...

**Author's Note:** Okay, this will hopefully read a little like a murder mystery/romance/action adventure thingy...(also known as, you name it I got it it's likely genre fic...) The basic premis is simple: Kagome and Sango are partners, working for a secretive group that controls and monitors and polices demons...it's a tough job and doggone it but someone's gotta do it, you know? At first I thought that it was a unique idea, but now I'm more inclined to say it's not...I just hope you guys like it...(whimpers pleadingly)...and on the off chance that this resembles anyone else's fic (it shouldn't as I swear to Heaven that I haven't read anything at all like this really...) it's just mere coincidence...I hope that you guys like it...good luck on figuring it out (probably won't be hard...) the clip at the end is a little...gory...blood and guts WILL be in this story, so **I warn you now: gore, blood, violence...**it probably won't be that bad or anything but I have to warn you now just so that I can say you were warned...(grins) also Sango is tough-girl in this chapter and the next two, maybe more. She's being the tough slayer, but don't worry, she will loosen...anyway, go ahead and read and tell me what you think...this may still be experimental...ack, but anyway, read and review! Thank you!

* * *

**On Patrol**

"Did you _hear_ him, Kagome? Did you _hear_ that!" Sango demanded, fuming. She slammed the car door behind her loudly, using all her accumulated muscle mass combined with newly awakened fury to generate the unusually strong noise. The little car rocked a bit in sheer testimony to the other woman's strength and will.

The other woman in the passenger side of the car struggled to maintain a neutral expression as she buckled her seat belt. _Oh no, not more frustration from the famous Sango Hiraikotsu…she could chew my ear off with that tongue…_

"Yes, I did…" Kagome Higurashi turned away to pretend that something about the window needed to be fixed—it _was_ a lovely day outside, why not roll it down? But while she had her face turned Kagome rolled her eyes skyward and struggled to keep her voice even when she answered the other woman, wary of sparking her rage but knowing that the truth was going to get theslayer just the same. "And you know what—that's just what was coming to you for falling in love with someone on the job—let alone _him_ of all—"

"Kagome! Wait—back up there, rewind." Sango's warm brown eyes were suddenly facing her and Kagome shifted uncomfortably. _Oops…I said **the word…**she doesn't want to hear that, she can't handle that yet, even though it's the truth…_ "Did you just describe me as being "in love" with him? Did I _hear_ that right?"

_Think fast Higurashi…_"If I say no will you drop it?" Kagome groaned, burying her face in her hands. _That was as good as you could do?_ She demanded of herself. Why had Sango become obsessed with _the_ most difficult and simultaneously most handsome man in the Agency? Even she could fall so easily into his flirtatious traps—Miroku Kazana was beyond attractive, he was bordering on shameful, and worst of all was that he _knew_ it. That led to his outrageous behavior and Sango's current rage. _When did she get this way? And how! I can't even remember…_

"I most certainly _will not_ drop it!" Sango raged as she pushed the rattling keys into the ignition and started the engine up. The entire time she was grumbling just below her breath—and the language was likely unrepeatable. Her fist clutched at the automatic transmission gearshift that separated the two women's seats from one another. "That disgusting man should be _fired_…"

Kagome struggled to hide her smirk. If her partner caught sight of it now chances were she'd be shot dead, no questions asked, no second chances. "You could always file charges of sexual harassment on him…nail him good for it, Sango." She risked a quick gaze out of the corner of her eye toward her stiff, scowling partner and chuckled nervously, "You know, it's probably why he's always being reassigned…"

Apparently _that_ was the _wrong_ thing to say.

Sango growled vehemently under her breath and, with a jerky look to her blind spot, she darted out into the street. A horn blared behind her when she cut someone else off and Sango cursed into the rear-view mirror at the other driver: "Asshole!"

_Don't want to mess with her…_Kagome thought silently toward the car behind them; peering into her side-view mirror with a scowl, _Sango is armed and not afraid to shoot…_

They sped up, flowing more evenly now with the traffic. Silence reigned for a short time before Kagome, nervous at the quiet, reached for the knob that turned on the radio…but Sango's larger, stronger hand slapped hers away instantly. The demon huntress was on the prowl now and heaven help anything—man, woman, child, human or demon—that felt like being a bother today with the way Sango held her shoulders rigid as stone.

She threw Kagome a glance from one dark chocolate colored eye that seemed somewhere between exasperated and annoyed. "We're on patrol Higurashi." She growled.

Kagome let out a sigh, "That was a fast change…" _one moment it's Miroku, the next we're on patrol and there's not even radio allowed! I don't need silence to be able to tell demons from humans!_ It wasn't really something she could control anyway. Born as a miko into a family whose spiritual abilities were unquestionable, Kagome's destiny—and particularly her career—had never really been something that she was in personal control of. She'd been privately educated among others like her—mikos or houshis—and then, on only her 17th birthday, she'd been taken on as an apprentice for the Agency…just as her mother, her father, her grandfather and her Aunt Kaede all had in their time. It was a family tradition—even her little brother Souta was currently in the middle of training, not far from being apprenticed himself!

As a result of her unusual abilities, strange education, and top-secret job, Kagome had been stalking unruly demons while her peers in public school had gone—full of giggles and gossip—to prom and standardized testing, and finally graduation. She had missed those things, but gained in ways that they couldn't ever have imagined—a job that _never_ would lay her off, paid her bills for her, even provided her housing! That was the benefit to being a working miko underneath the Agency's care…_everything _was taken care of, planned out, thought ahead…_but if it's a perfect job and my spiritual powers are such a blessing—why is it that I feel so unfulfilled?_

Frowning, she pushed those thoughts away and focused on the sidewalks that Sango was cruising by. Everyone was human so far…she sensed no unusual auras nearby at all. _Looks like it'll be another boring patrol…_

When Sango slowed, riding the breaks hard, to stop at a red light, Kagome ducked down to clutch at the glove compartment. The little tan-colored trap door feel down, separating itself from the rest of the air bag and dashboard area, exposing its guts to her. Inside Kagome grabbed one of the handheld electronic devices and turned it on. The screen glowed blue for a moment and an annoyingly cheerful chime rang as the thing booted.

Out of the corner of her eye Kagome caught Sango frowning as she slammed on the gas again, gaining on an SUV's backsides.

The touch screen appeared, allowing Kagome to dab and poke the menu items. The icons were neighborhood and street names mostly, things like Wyandotte, Amsterdam, First, Third, Maple, Panther, Smith, and Hoyt.

"Sango, what's our assignment this time?" she queried, face still aimed at the small screen.

"It's your favorite." The demon huntress smirked knowingly.

Kagome felt her stomach drop out beneath her, roll under the tires, get smashed and ground up, pressed deep into the pavement. "Kouga." She gagged, "Park Street to Arlington Avenue."

The demon huntress's smirk never ceased. "Oh yes—" she looked to her partner with a grin, "So, how long do you figure before that dorky wolf demon will show his pretty blue eyes and beg you to have sex with him, hmm?" she snickered, taking far too much amusement in light of Kagome's discomfort concerning the matter.

"You know what Hiraikotsu," Kagome returned sharply—and Sango could tell that her partner had been riled by the way she identified her by last name—still focused solely on the handheld device, "Kouga was never asking me to have sex with him. He was actually asking me to be his wife in demon standards." Kagome's head jerked forward abruptly as Sango slammed on the breaks and made a right turn.

"Whatever he called it, whatever it meant, it was still sex…" she smirked, knowing full well how close Kagome was going to come to her exploding point.

"It was _not_, Sango, wolf demons like Kouga don't randomly have sex—well, at least none of the higher bred ones do anyway, and Kouga certainly is high bred. They ask other demons to become their mates, it's like asking if someone will marry you…"

The demon slayer scowled and slid into a parallel parking space—pulling in, not actually doing the fancy parking job. No one _really_ used the parallel parking technique. Kagome wondered why they'd bother teaching it at all…she considered it absently as her partner shifted into park gear, and pulled on the emergency break with a short grunt.

"You know, Kagome," Sango began, frowning as she reached for the ashtray that was positioned in the control panel below the radio and tape deck. "You don't exactly turn him down all that forcefully…" the smirking glance she threw the younger woman clearly said, _teach you to say I **love** that perverted houshi…_ Kagome ignored her and instead pushed Sango's foraging fingers away from the ashtray, the miko was determined to do the job herself.

When she grabbed the tray it clattered open obnoxiously, rattling loudly with spare change. Neither woman smoked, thus the tray became a coin storing compartment and…Kagome's fingers probed briefly before coming back with two silver rings. They were identical, except for a tiny variation in size—for these rings were custom made to the agents' middle fingers—and the single word written on the insides of the bands. The first that Kagome's search had produced read _slayer._ The second read _miko._

Kagome handed the silver ring that read _slayer_ on it to Sango with a frown. "I don't want Kouga to hold a grudge." She argued, pointedly. She watched blandly as her partner wordlessly slipped on the ring and then flipped down the vanity-mirror-combination-sun-block to peer at her reflection. To Kagome's eyes the slayer's appearance was unaltered—dark straight brown hair, Asian heritage, chocolate brown eyes—but the mirror showed frizzy, curly red hair and bright green eyes. She looked distinctly Irish.

The slayer looked at Kagome and smirked, "Well—put on your ring, Higurashi, unless you want your dear Kouga not to recognize his favorite miko agent." She batted her eyes, a sardonic, almost sadistic attempt at teasing her partner.

Grumbling to herself Kagome did so, slipping on the wretched silver ring. She immediately felt the tickling, tingling sensation that mikos and houshis called the "buzz" pass over her, the sense of a spell being cast. The rings were standard issue to all agents, miko, houshi orslayer alike. It was to protect the safety of the agents—to assure that they weren't recognized by demons outside of the Agency. The agents were also given false scents that irritated youkai noses, making them unable to get an accurate scent off any on-duty agent. That ensured that no demon was able to stalk an agent when they were _off_ duty and unprotected.

Unlike Sango—who had to look in the mirror to see if her spell had worked, Kagome could simply _feel_ the spell—though she was unable to see the change the spell wrought on Sango in anything but in a mirror. As a miko Kagome was spiritually gifted—she saw past such simple spells easily. Only in mirrors might she see what the spell _wanted_ her to see. She didn't need to flip down her own vanity mirror to see that her reflection was not her own—rather it was now a black haired, blue eyed, freckled European's that pouted back at her.

When she looked to Sango her partner nodded in approval, the teasing smirk still in her warm chocolate eyes though. "Better Higurashi." She reached for the keys, twisting them into the off position—the car shuddered into silence—and then she yanked them, rattling, free of the steering wheel column. Sango wordlessly reached for the door latch, but paused, turning back to throw Kagome a stern glance. "Alias names now Higurashi." She instructed, biting her lip.

Kagome nodded. Every agent invented a very plain, utterly American or European false identity—the rings provided the appearance, special clothing and fake scents made them unrecognizable in a deeper way while the names polished off the guises. Although Kagome had worked to control and police hundreds—maybe even _thousands—_of youkai in her short lifetime employed by the Agency, not _one_ of them had ever seen, smelled, or heard her real identity. The rings worked so thoroughly that they even covered and warped their host's voices, not only changing how they sounded but also what they spoke. The spells allowed them to flawlessly, without any accent,speak English now as well, although both were native speakers of Japanese.

Sango pulled on some headphones—which were in all actuality a two-way radio that allowed her to listen to the Agency's secret frequency in case they were called away from their current position—and opened the car door. Kagome followed a moment later with a sigh. The air outside smelled heavy with rain. The clouds in the sky overhead were thick and ripe with it. Bloated beings of the skies, hovering, waiting, teasing those below them…if it _did_ rain Kagome thought, it'd be _cold._

She took her spot walking beside Sango comfortably. The grass glistened beneath their sneaker-clad feet. It was 60 degrees Fahrenheit and falling. The sound of cars crunching gravel and debris on the cement of the road just some 200 or so feet away through the birch and maple trees distracted Kagome's ears and eyes for a moment. She narrowed her eyes as a little white neon sped by…the license plate _looked_ normal at first glance, but Kagome easily saw the red and white symbol that designated the employees of the Agency gleaming in the right corner. Anyone who saw that would assume it was a custom-made design…_unless_ they were a youkai or an agent.

Kagome scowled and turned her eyes back to the park, trying to focus her attention on her job, on the wet grass beneath her feet, on the misted chill in the air—on Sango's stiffened gait beside her, at the continuous hum of the headphones. She observed their surroundings with her miko's eyes, seeking for anything unusual…there was nothing. In the distance kids were playing on the creaking swings, mothers pushed their children in strollers around a pretty centerpiece fountain, smiling and chatting with one another about their offspring amiably. Though Kagome tried to push the thought—the instinct really, the simple _emotion_—away as far and as fast as she could, it still crossed her consciousness anyway…_I envy every one of them, going about their normal average lives…_

None of those mortals out there had to worry about pleasing their families the way she did, not a one of them had to live with the crushing, suffocating secret of demon existence. None of them had to face or fight the _real_ things that went bump in the night…and none of them had had their very lives planned out for them even before they were born as she had.

"Jog with me—Kelly." Sango tapped her shoulder, forcing Kagome out of her reverie. For a moment she blinked stupidly before realizing that they were on duty, alias names were used now continuously, whether there was a perceived danger or not.

Kagome nodded absently, "Sure—_Samantha._" She smirked. The alias names were always Americanones with the same first sounds as the agent's real names, just to keep things simpler. Kagome had always found the practice funny—why not change the whole name? Why make it similar in the least?

They started at a slow, easy jog around the park's pathways, passing by the central fountain and the chatting mothers. Sango moved without word, without expression. She didn't so much as look left or right. Kagome, meanwhile, was all eyes—as her job as miko demanded. She took in the sweep of the moist-laden droplet-covered tree branches, the maples and the pines and the birches, the men that jogged by them, eyes blank and minds whirling about their miniscule average daily problems. A chipmunk skittered across the path, dashing toward a pine tree that was further away from the giggling, shrieking children. Still within auditory limits, Kagome even heard the loud motorcycles that passed through the town, ripping and roaring tailpipes grumbling in an obnoxious defiance of the quiet civility of modern-day Westernized North American life…a life that she knew was in actuality _anything_ but quiet.

When they'd made one complete circuit around the edges of the park Sango suddenly stopped and looked at her watch, the chocolate brown eyes narrowing, turning inward as she listened to the louder, shriller hum of the headphones. Kagome stopped beside her, and, to keep up appearances as a couple of joggers passed by, began stretching and talking quietly in Sango's direction. The slayer wasn't listening of course, but it wouldn't attract any unwanted interest by the public—if there _were_ youkai that Kagome had failed to see for one reason or another, the agents wanted to make sure they passed as invisible.

"Having trouble with those headphones Sam? I know that I have all the time. Miserable things aren't they…" she looked further down the jogging path as something seemed to swell in her mind, like an itch she couldn't scratch, or like a sudden, nagging little headache that had the potential to turn into a migraine…_yes, that's right, a migraine…_down that path she saw a strong, stocky, blue-eyed, black-haired man running toward her and Sango.

_Kouga…_she restrained a gag. Even from so far away she could see his brown tail swishing every so often with the beat of his powerful legs as they propelled him. Sango—as all of the non-spiritually gifted humans around Kagome—would live their entire lives without seeing the wolf demon's true features. Like Kagome and Sango, Kouga wore a charm somewhere that kept his features hidden to all normal humans…

"Yes, _very_ miserable Sam, if you know what I mean…" she continued, looking Sango directly in the eye now and gesturing once with her head.

The slayer was still half-listening to her headphones but she followed where her partner was gesturing and immediately the all-business hard face dropped into a thick smirk as her gaze drifted back to Kagome. "Well, well, well…if it isn't your favorite suitor Kelly…"

She was about to protest when she saw that the aforementioned man—or more accurately, wolf youkai—had caught up to them with astonishing swiftness. That wasn't uncommon. Kagome knew that this wolf-demon in particular was especially quick on his feet—too bad that was the _only_ part of him that was fast.

"Hello ladies…" he growled as he stopped beside them, smiling smugly at Kagome in particularly, "How are you today?" his blue eyes twinkled mischievously.

Sango was smirking so much that she had to cover her mouth and turn away, pretending to fiddle with the headphones that continued to whistle to themselves quietly. Kagome threw the slayer an angry glare quickly as she turned away, leaving her partner effectively on her own with the wolf youkai. When she looked to Kouga she noticed, with a quick flick of her eyes, that his hairy, furry brown tail was _wagging…_she forced her gaze to his eyes and swallowed nervously, trying to speak, but he spoke before she could.

"You know, Miss Kelly," he leaned closer to her, and when he spoke she could see his gleaming, sharp white canines and she almost shivered, "I don't see why you agents keep yourselves so distant." His blue eyes handsomely tried to look right through her, to reach her soul with his entreaty, "A lot of youkai are _very_ good at heart…" he reached out and snatched her hand, pressing it to the thick muscles she could easily feel beneath his thin gray shirt. She winced and tried to pull away when she saw Sango's astonished gaze lingering on their exchange, but she couldn't pull free as he finished his thought, leaning still closer so she could smell his distinctly masculine scent, "…I've already figured out that you're the miko and you can see me for what I _really_ am…surely you can see that I'd make a great ally and _close_ friend…"

Sango's eyes were laughing at her frustration as Kagome groaned—which made the wolf youkai grin and squeeze her hand. He'd interpreted her sound as something closer to pleasure at his close proximity and Kagome squirmed when his free hand fell to her waist, growing _far_ too comfortable. "Kouga…" she pleaded weakly, trying to push him away with the hand that he was squeezing, but the wolf simply smirked and pulled her closer still, using both hands.

"Oh Kelly…" his breath blew over her face and she cringed, whimpering as she searched her mind for sanity, looking for escape…_why the hell won't Sango **help** me!_

Takekenso Kouga was a high born wolf youkai that Kagome had met several years ago when she'd been a mere apprentice in the Agency. She'd been apart of an investigation that had, in the end, prosecuted and convicted Kouga's only competition for a leading position within his own clan—thus handing him the craved spot on a silver platter. The wolf was the leader of his own massive pack—and for years now he'd taken to stalking _her._ Kagome had requested reassignment numerous times—or a different false scent, or a different alias image—and had gotten her requests granted from time to time, but somehow Kouga always managed to find her again…it was…_eerie…_and she _hated_ it.

With Kouga moving steadily closer and closer, looking as if he was going to kiss her—which wasn't something that would _completely_ disgust her, considering that he was a good-looking youkai at the very least—but agent-youkai relations were _strictly_ forbidden and she had no feelings for the dim wolf demon leader. It seemed that she would have to defend herself…

Kagome quickly—with strength she hadn't known she had—yanked her hand free of his and pulled off one of many beaded bracelets that lined her wrists. Before Kouga could so much as look surprised by these sudden movements, Kagome had muttered a few special words under her breath and the beads in her pallid fingers vanished…only to reappear about Kouga's wrist instead. The wolf didn't even notice as he stared down at Kagome in something that might have been worry—how _dense_ could he be!

"Kelly, are you—"

"Kouga…" she looked him carefully in the deep blue eyes and nearly screamed when she saw that he was leaning forward again, looking like he was going to give her a peck on the lips… "Stay Kouga!" she ordered.

The beads around his wrist glowed, responding to their master's call, and immediately the wolf youkai tensed against his own will, his hands withdrawing from Kagome. Freed of his grasp, Kagome sighed heavily and stepped back to stand beside Sango, who had ceased watching them. Her eyes were dark now and she was genuinely listening to her headphones now.

"Any news?" she asked, quietly, briefly looking around at the park to make sure no one had noticed them…the mothers were still chatting in the distance, joggers passed by with their vacant eyes, oblivious. A child screamed in pain as he scraped his knee and raced to attack the other child that had pushed him.

"We need to go…" Sango told her with a curt nod, though the slayer's attention was still on whatever was being whispered in the headphones.

"Kelly…?" came Kouga's pathetic voice from nearby. Kagome shot him an embarrassed look, half pitying him. The spell from the bracelet had worn off and he was now back in control of his body, but his tail was bristling she saw. "What did you _do?"_ he asked, despairingly.

She took a hesitant step closer and gestured to the bracelet. "Takekenso-sama…"

"Kouga. Kelly, you _know_ you can call me Kouga now. We've known each other for a long time." He muttered, frowning with her formality.

She scowled but didn't ignore his interruption, starting anew, "Kouga…you know that it's _forbidden…_" he started to take a step closer to her and Kagome hissed the command word she'd chosen for him again and the wolf stopped in his tracks, his blue eyes stared at her, shocked. Kagome looked away, gritting her teeth. _Poor wolf…I didn't want to do that to you but…_ she didn't bother to finish the useless thought as Sango snatched her by the arm and started to lead her across the moist grass toward the other side of the park where they'd left the car.

When they were safely inside the silence of the interior of the Agency-sponsored car, Kagome let loose a heavy sigh. "Thanks for nothing back there Sango…" she muttered, "Why didn't you beat him off me?"

The slayer inserted the keys, twisted them. The engine sputtered to life, protesting the slight chill of the spring morning outside, and Sango threw Kagome what was an attempt at an expressionless face, "And make a scene, Kagome?" she shook her head, "I'm not stupid." But despite her best attempt at a solemn appearance, Kagome could see the glower, the smirk in her partner's eyes. She scowled, remembering well the conversation that had begun their shift this day.

"That wasn't about Kouga, Sango, and you know it. That was about you getting even with me for me talking about Miroku…"

Sango frowned briefly and then turned her eyes to the gearshift and the road. As she pulled out into the road the slayer didn't answer her partner at all—which made Kagome bristle silently. Usually she and Sango got along well enough—they'd been partners for nearly three whole years now—but lately Sango had been tenser than usual. Kagome suspected it was Miroku that was doing it…that and perhaps, on some level, Sango felt the same way that Kagome did about their job.

_Miserable. Alone. Suffocating. Secret. Thankless._

She forced those thoughts away, as well as her hostility at Sango's tiny bit of vengeance and sighed, asking, "Where are we needed now Sango?"

The slayer's headphones were still on and still whistling. A scowl clouded her features. "Be prepared to lose any appetite that you had before this, Kagome." She warned, lips pursed, eyes pointed steadfastly to the road.

"Just tell me, Sango…" she moaned, using one hand to cover her eyes, as if the terrible atrocity her partner had hinted at was already before her, staring up at her from her lap.

"Youkai-on-youkai homicide." Sango muttered, her fists closing more tightly on the steering wheel, "Backup was requested by…" she paused, apparently listening. The headphones gargled and whistled, and though Kagome strained, trying to listen, she couldn't understand anything from it before Sango spoke again, her tone one of mild surprise, "Backup requested by Kari Klaebu _and Rini Gouzoku_." She shot Kagome a curious glance, "That's your aunt's name, right?"

Kagome nodded slowly, a little relieved. The only benefit of being a Higurashi was that at some point or another—simply because there were so many of them by marriage or blood and all of them worked for the Agency—she'd work with a relative. _But working with Aunt Rini will be a special treat…_yet that thought died and her face paled as she realized just where her mother's younger sister specialized within the Agency…_Youkai Genocide and Conspiracy._

A shiver traveled through her. _Maybe working with Aunt Rini will be closer to a nightmare…_

* * *

Red eyes peered out from the black hole of darkness that was the space between where the iron stairs zigzagged their way up the side of the sleazy apartment building. Lurking behind the alley's dumpster, the red-eyed thing smirked and languished in the remaining scent of fox demon blood…delicious… 

Sniffling, snuffling sounds reached the beast's ears; the red eyes swiveled with a sickening gleam of enthusiasm. A mangy dog wandered into the alley; nose alternately lowered to sift through the scents on the dirty pavement and then raised to take in the air around it. As the thin, weary dog entered the narrow space between the buildings, moving toward the dumpster with obvious intent—it smelled the blood and sensed only that there might be food to eat—the beast grinned maliciously.

The dog came close enough to the big, ugly green dumpster to push its big brown wet nose against the structure…and suddenly the dog's deep, warm brown eyes flicked toward the shadows. The hair on its back stood on end, bristling everywhere; the lips were drawn back in a vicious snarl. A growl rose—but it was nothing like any other sound that this animal had ever made before in its lifetime. It wasn't a sound of a petty fight, the noise uttered when a few scraps of meat or perhaps dominance, or a bitch were involved. Instead it was a sound of terror, of horror. In its own way the dog understood that it was staring down a beast, a creature that would easily and mercilessly tear it apart and suck the marrow from its bones…

The thing from within the shadows sprung, red eyes blazing with a furious, sick inner light. Everything about the dog changed in a second—no bites were thrown, no growls were heard—just the clicking of the animal's paws and nails against the pavement as it sped as fast as it could away…but not quite fast enough.

Blood splattered against the opposite wall of the alley, the dog yelped piercingly, but ran onward, despite the obvious wound—a huge slash over the hamstring of one hind leg—and the crimson that dribbled steadily down its haunches. The dog dashed out into the street, car horns honked at the disturbance. Pedestrians on the sidewalk only a few scant feet away from the alley gasped in horror at the animal's blood, dripping…

The red-eyed beast lingered outside the protective concealment of the dumpster's shadow for several moments, exposed to the light. None saw him—though he wouldn't have cared if they had—in fact he would've enjoyed their shock…

A tiny breeze picked up, catching the shadow monster's hair—long, flowing, silver hair. His skin seemed to glow brilliantly, a luxurious, healthy tan. The eyes, flashing red for several moments as the sunlight of the afternoon settled on him, and then slowly changing, lightening—into bright golden yellow orbs like rich honey—narrowed as he sniffed the air once and knew that someone was approaching the alley. Turning toward the shadows again the sunlight caught one last detail—two adorable, seemingly innocent bright as snow—white dog-ears perched atop his head.

He knelt down into the depths of the shadow again, waiting. Unconsciously the beast lifted his clawed fingers—covered in both youkai and dog's blood—and began to lick them clean. The golden eyes flickered like flames and darkened once more, becoming as morbid and red as the blood that stained his claws as his pink tongue came flicking out to savor his evil strength and power…

A woman rounded the corner; her lips were set in a hard line. Her hair was a dark black and pinned loosely and high on her head, it shone like a beacon as she passed through the sunlight and approached the stairway. Keys rattled in her hands, glinted in the sunlight, as silver as the beast's hair…he let loose one very deep, very liquid chuckle. The woman stopped, her high-heeled foot lifted to land on the first step of the steel stairway, and paused.

He could scent her surprise, tinged with stark fear…

_"Is that you?"_ she whispered, her voice choked.

He narrowed his eyes at her, taking in both her hidden features—those that she'd been born with—and the ones that the charm spell—which was kept, he knew with a smirk, inside her earrings—made mortals see. But if he was anything it certainly wasn't a normal mortal, was it? She knew that just as clearly as he knew everything about her in return. And he could easily see past the façade she had placed over her natural features. He saw the shield of bottled blonde hair and the dark red highlights, the hazel-green eyes like mud peeking through the summer's greenest grass…and he admired her taste silently. _Yes, you would never chose a false appearance that was bland and ordinary, would you? You like being noticed, don't you? It makes you feel **free**, doesn't it? And you **thought** for a while, that you were…_

He smirked through the darkness at her, sure that whether she saw it or not, she sensed it, knowing him the way she did.

"It's been too long…" he answered her, his voice a deep rumble. He revealed a smile full of knives. "Too long indeed…I've been waiting for you…"

* * *

Endnote: So this is at least a preview of my latest...Can you guess what's going on here? Hmm? Why's Inuyasha crazy, and who is the woman? Or...could there be an entirely diferent situation to explain this? You'll find out a lot more next chapter...I have another two chapters already mostly written up, so here's your preview...(for those of you waiting on _WOAWO_ that one's coming along well too): 

_"Inuyasha—clean up that language. You're not a teenager anymore…" _

_He rolled his amber eyes, **not the properness and decency lesson again…I've heard him use that sortof language around his secretary every damn day!** Even so he obeyed—maybe it'd help him get to that toilet sooner, otherwise he'd be forced to find a corner soon… _

_"Okay Dad…" he sighed and rephrased his words, "I **need very badly****,"** he growled the words out, "To **urinate.**_**_"_**

I like being able to write Inuyasha in modern scenarios, it's great...that and his dad...(grins) but I gotta get going, remember to drop me a line if you liked it and would like to see more...


	2. Aikenka Inuyasha

**Disclaimer** Nope, don't own it...

**A/N:** Ah the second chapter! I've added a date to make this more...(shrugs) well, a different feel...last chapter I don't think I told you who was killed, now I do. First up is the generally humorous piece of how Inuyasha woke up that morning in the company of his father...who's he dreaming of, eh?...and note the date ladies and gents, if he's here and not out killing the other demon family...who DID do it? Hmm? Or did Inuyasha simply sneak out and do it anyway, and snuck back just as quickly, without memory of the incident at all? Unlikely? You be the judge...after that Sesshomaru is introduced. Then more of Kagome, this time off duty, her emotion...she and Inuyasha both have a bit of it in this story. Kagome feels powerless and kind of adrift, she hates being bound by family "tradition" to the Agency and such as was said last chapter. She feels like she has no freedom. Inuyasha meanwhile, hates his opposite situation: too little control, if you will...hmm...what shall happen when they meet? (grins) answers and thanks at the end as always...don't forget to drop me a line! Later...

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**Aikenka Inuyasha**  
(_April 28th:the day ofthe murders_)

* * *

_When she turned and looked at him, the shine of her hair like black silk, or the sick but intensely beautiful sheen of crude oil flicking over her shoulders, the blue eyes stole his breath away. **Beautiful…** was the thought and the word that flitted by in his mind to describe her…but those sparkling sapphires were saddened. Seeing that emotion, that heaviness—it made him want to scoop her up into his arms, to hold her against him forever. If he breathed in deep enough he could scent her sweet, delicious natural perfume…he wanted to see her smile, wanted to make her smile…_

_His heart picked up and he worked hard to settle it, despite the sudden sweat that broke over his body, making him hot and sticky as she started to walk toward him. He itched like a dog with fleas in the heat of July…**great, now I'm comparing myself to my clan's true form! Feh!**_

_She reached him—she was wearing form fitting black pants that didn't have the slightest shine on them at all. They were like black holes, obscuring and bending light, absorbing it into some alternate dimension. The looser white, long sleeved shirt that she wore over it was far less attractive, and it made him even more nervous…but when he lifted his gaze from her clothing to her eyes—those big, almond shaped, dark brown orbs of sad beauty—he was taking in all over again and his heart rate exploded. (Wait…_brown?_ Hadn't it been blue before…?) _

_He crossed his arms, cringing slightly as he felt the moisture of his nervous sweat rub off onto his bare forearms. He felt his ears turn backward, and saw that her eyes—her enchanting, deep, mud (But they were _blue_ damn it! Blue!) colored irises—followed the movement for a second. Only second but long enough for him to know without a doubt…**she's a miko…an agent…**_

Inuyasha's eyes snapped open and he sat up, gasping. The covers around him were covered in sweat, though he had slept in nothing but his boxers. Had he not been staying in a hotel with his father he might've gone to bed without clothing at all…but it just wouldn't do with his father inhabiting the same room. But the scant boxers could hardly explain the perspiration. His entire body was soaked with it, as if his old man had come by and poured water all over him as he slept. _Gods, what's wrong with me!_ He growled to himself and pushed off from the bed, stumbling a little as his toes found the ground. His dream reached to him from the depths of his memory again—_weird…_

At the very second he was standing upright Inuyasha realized with a grimace that his bladder was _painfully_ full. Scowling to himself, he stormed toward the bathroom, trying to force his legs to stay straight underneath his exhausted form. _What time is it, damn it?_

The image of the woman remained with him, strongly, and he tottered a little as he made his way around the corner that separated the beds from the bathroom and it cherished toilet just beyond. _Why had her eyes changed? Why did I make up something so real in my head?_

He frowned when he rounded the corner and saw that the door to the bathroom was shut, the water was running. _Damn you Dad!_ He growled again and shook his head, reaching up and scratching one of his white dog-ears for a second, trying to stifle the reflexive jerks the tiny sensory appendage made upon his probing touch.

"Will you be outta there soon?" he growled, lower and louder than the running water, so that his father's sensitive hearing would pick it up with ease.

"Soon enough, Inuyasha." Came the cool answer.

He growled, disgruntled, and ran one clawed hand through his long, tangled, and flowing silver-colored hair. _C'mon Dad—my bladder's going to burst! Maybe youkai can handle it but I'm only a little hanyou as you and that bastard Sesshomaru like to remind me…_

"Dad—I gotta take a piss!" he grumbled, his lips were thick from sleep still, his eyes blurred in the darkened room. He hated hotels, never could tell what time it was in there because the shades and curtains were always so effective. It always felt like it was very late at night outside to him when it could actually be dawn—he'd never know the difference. It was as if the hotel rooms and hallways were able to warp time somehow…_either that or it's my fantasy of staying here some late night with a very sexy chick rolling in those covers with me…**then** I'd have a reason to be sweaty…_unbidden he remembered his dream again and scowled, suddenly needing to pee even more. "_Dad—"_he whined again, only to be cut off.

"Inuyasha—clean up that language. You're not a teenager anymore…"

He rolled his amber eyes, _not the properness and decency lesson again…I've heard him use this sort of language around his secretary every damn day!_ Even so he obeyed—maybe it'd help him get to that toilet sooner, otherwise he'd be forced to find a corner soon…

"Okay _Dad_…" he sighed and rephrased his words, "I _need very badly_," he growled the words out, "To _urinate._"

The continuous humming and hissing of the running water in the shower snapped off and Inuyasha fidgeted anxiously with anticipation, trying to keep his peace just long enough to last until the door opened. From inside the steamy depths of the bathroom—Inuyasha could feel the heat and misty moisture brushing his toes from underneath the sturdy door—his father made a deep sound, a mixture of fatigue and irritation. Though it was quiet and reserved at best, and completely inaudible at worst, Inuyasha's keen ears perked at it, and his annoyance soared.

"Would you _hurry_ _damn it?_" he hissed, biting his lips in desperation.

The door swung wide and through the thick moist air, Inuyasha stared up at his father. The "old man's" identical silver hair and golden eyes fixed his son right to the spot without any effort at all. No matter how much Inuyasha struggled to defy his father the inuyoukai leader had always managed to subdue him as a pup…but lately...? Now his father's gaze demanded that his hanyou son correct himself again…and although he knew that Inutaisho would continue to scowl at him in silent reprimand, Inuyasha forced himself to remain silent and stubborn.

"Are you gonna get outta the way, or should I just piss myself right here?" he muttered, amber eyes narrowed and sharply irritated.

Inutaisho's features remained cold and just as stubborn as his second-born son's, but even so he stepped forward. The great leader of the powerful inuyoukai clan was shrouded by a long white bathrobe, which was only loosely secured over his wide, muscular chest. The skin that peeked from the robe was an easy natural tanned gold. His long silver hair was soaked and plastered to his scalp and shoulders. The pointed ears and the marks of his demon heritage—the jagged purplish streaks on his cheeks—showed with unusual clarity now when the leader's hair wasn't bouncy and free to shade his face at all. Instead it was swept clean back for convenience.

Showing his youngest son nothing but annoyance, Inutaisho stepped out of the bathroom doorway and Inuyasha growled to himself as he slipped by. His toes met with wet floor tiles and he grimaced as he nearly slipped trying to slam the heavy door shut behind him. "God—you think you could've left it any wetter Dad?" he growled. There was no answer, of course, and Inuyasha didn't wait to maintain the silence in hopes of one—he relieved his wretched bladder rather than add to the mess that his father's "wet dog" trick had done to the floor tiles…

When he reentered the room Inuyasha's eyes were immediately assaulted by bright sunlight. With a startled yelp he covered his amber eyes with one palm, thrusting the other outward as a guide to ensure he didn't run into any walls. He cursed violently under his breath—though Inutaisho certainly heard the language nonetheless. "Shit Dad! Close those damn—" but he didn't finish because, despite his one free, searching hand, Inuyasha stubbed his toe against the corner as he rounded it and tripped with a gasp.

Across the room Inutaisho regarded his son with an expression that was quietly amused. It was a look he didn't allow the hanyou to see, but it spoke of their shared likeness—one that even Inutaisho was at times loathe to admit the full depth of. Many long years ago—several generations' worth by human standards, the inuyoukai lord mused—Inutaisho had been an angry, snappy, irritated and foul-mouthed pup much as Inuyasha was now. Parts of it still lingered within him, of course, but, over time, Inutaisho had nursed a far colder, ultimately gentler disposition. Yet Inuyasha mimicked his wilder past uncannily well, and because of that the stubborn, difficult, hardheaded and sometimes utterly lazy and irresponsible hanyou was his favorite son…

Not the _heir_, but his _favorite…_

And right now Inutaisho recognized something strange about his son's scent that made him scowl abruptly as the hanyou staggered to his feet, still cursing the sunlight.

"What the hell was the big idea with that _damn_ light, Dad?" Inuyasha snapped, still trying to shade one eye from the blazing beams that issued forth from the sun outside.

"You sleep in too late, Inuyasha." Inutaisho told him blandly. Without words the inuyoukai leader left the window shades and began pulling at his son's bedding, straightening the sheets.

"Let the damn maid do that _Dad!"_ Inuyasha growled, glaring from between his shield of protective fingers. "That's what she's bloody paid to do!"

The amber eyes that were a clear family trait met up with him, though no expression rose to his father's facial features, "I refuse to have _my_ son leave such a mess."

Inuyasha groaned and stumbled toward his father's already neatly made-up bed instead. In a moment he flopped himself onto it, pressing his face into the huge, fluffy pillows, covering his eyes thoroughly.

"Inuyasha." His father spoke a few moments later, still pulling ob the covers, this way and that, trying to adjust them just perfect, as if he were the aforementioned maid.

"What, damn it?" he snarled back, too tired and irritated to deal with his father. _If our flight doesn't leave until noon this today why did he wake me so soon? **Damn him!**_

The lingering silence between his response and his father's answer told Inuyasha that the old man still wasn't appreciating his language too much…yet stubbornly he waited out his father's awkward pause and soon enough the inuyoukai sighed and queried, in a surprisingly amiable tone, "What did you dream last night, Inuyasha?"

That startled the hanyou into pulling his face from the pillows. New creases ran over his features as he looked incredulously at his father, ears perked sharply to attention. "How the hell did you know…?" he felt a crimson blush spill over his cheeks and decided to put his foot into his mouth. With a frown to wipe away his confused astonishment, Inuyasha cleared his throat, a not-so-subtle stalling tactic. "Nothing—_why?"_

Inutaisho didn't answer, merely turned his back on his youngest son and walked toward the desk at the far end of the room where a computer was humming tirelessly.

The hanyou growled in irritation, his ears fell backward. "_You asked_, damn it!" Inuyasha understood that his father's senses were keener than his own—though such a thing was nearly impossible for him to imagine—it seemed likely to him that his strange and very vivid dream had some deeper meaning. It _also_ seemed likely that it might be related to some inner sense that Inuyasha had yet to learn about. Inutaisho and his older brother, Sesshomaru, weren't the most open and amiable people around of course, and on top of that they were youkai—and youkai kept secrets carefully. For Inuyasha that meant that they neglected to tell him of some things that the wilder side of his heritage had the potential to spring on him. He'd long since grown accustomed to the idea that frequently he just didn't know anything.

_Now_ he suspected was one of those times. There'd been numerous others: as a tiny toddler on the new moon losing his powers and becoming human had so startled his mother that she'd driven him all the way into the city to demand answers from his father. Inuyasha didn't remember that example at all, but there was another that scared the hell out of him…

He shuddered, _could this dream be anything like that? Could it be so bad as turning into a wild monster when my demon-blood takes over?_ He forced the memories away, but couldn't wipe the worried frown from his face.

Inutaisho's voice caught him off guard, coming from the computer desk now where the inuyoukai leader was clicking with his tiny portable mouse. "If you would explain your dream to me, pup, I might just be able to answer your question." The tone his father had used was unusually soft, and the term he'd used in talking with Inuyasha was just enough to bring a pink flush of embarrassment to his cheeks.

"I'm _not_ a _pup_!" he protested, growling.

Inutaisho gave one of his very rare but very pleasant rumbling chuckles. His golden eyes never left the computer screen. The mouse continued clicking, "Yes, Inuyasha, I understand that…"

Growling still with a die-hard indignation, Inuyasha pushed himself up away from the bed, making sure to drag a few of the covers with him, wrinkling them. "Feh!" he scowled and crossed his arms over his chest as he moved toward the bathroom again, this time planning to take a shower of his own. But just as his clawed hand wrapped around the doorknob, he heard Inutaisho's voice come again, apparently relenting to his son's stubbornness.

"Did you dream with a particular…_realness, _Inuyasha?"

The hand on the doorknob hesitated. The hanyou swallowed convulsively. "Yea, I did." He admitted.

The silence that answered his response felt especially heavy. With a start Inuyasha frowned as he realized that he'd been holding his breath. Completely throwing away his initial instincts about the dream he scoffed and rushed to fill that weighty silence, "Feh! It was nothing Dad! Just some human wench with bl-br—_blue_ eyes." He cursed himself inwardly for stuttering. _Why in the seven hells does it matter so much to me what color those eyes were anyway? Damn it!_

Still that previous silence lingered onward for several seconds before Inutaisho sighed heavily. "It was about a human woman then?"

"Yea…" he tried to keep his voice unaffected and without true interest in what Inutaisho might or might not have to say about it.

"You're right Inuyasha," his father assured him in a reasonable, uncaring tone, "It means nothing—go and shower, your scent is unpleasant."

"Feh! Not any better than _you_ in the morning, I'd bet my ass on that!" he snorted and closed himself off in the bathroom before his father could scold him forhis language.

The moment he was alone in the tight space the hanyou looked at his reflection in the mirror—at the ears that swiveled, at the bright gold eyes, at the silvered strands of hair that were still messy from sleep—and his face fell. _Why am I sure he was lying to me? Why **would** he lie to me? Damn it!_

As Inuyasha ripped his boxers off and stepped into the massive, white and square-shaped shower, he couldn't stop the mixture of terror, horror, and self-loathing that filled him when he thought of another time that he had learned another secret of his demon heritage the hard way…red eyes, jagged bluish streaks on his face, identical to his father's. But unlike the proud markings that graced his father and brother's cheeks Inuyasha's had been a symbol of savagery, wild and thoughtless bloodlust.

He fought a sudden lump in his throat as he recalled the way his mother had stared at him, the way his father had been holding him down with the fierce but utterly cold gleam in his golden eyes…the water squeaked and whistled and splashed around his toes, but Inuyasha wasn't thinking about his shower anymore. The woman's strange eyes came to him again, as vivid as memory, and he wondered uselessly what it meant.

_Whoever you are, you should stay the hell away from me. Hanyous are nothing but abominations…we can't even control ourselves, can't stop ourselves from hurting those we love…_

* * *

The secretary looked up from her desk, smiling faintly, courteously. "Mr. Aikenka will see you now." 

A very petite, very young woman rose from her chair and strode toward the large, rather intimidating door, a heavy manila file waiting in her arms, demanding the attention of the great leader that presided just on the other side of that door. Just as the door to his office was large and intimidating, so too was the man that called the space beyond it something akin to home. The secretary watched the young woman—who was only about 15 she thought at most—walk to the door and, without any apparent fear, rap her knuckles on its cold, brown surface.

Seconds later the door opened and the secretary busied herself swiftly with typing at her computer, though she kept one ear continuously cocked in their direction.

"Mr. Aikenka." The girl murmured gently and bowed lightly.

The man, Mr. Aikenka, was a fair-haired individual with such light brownish-green eyes that they at times almost appeared _gold. _The long, strangely light hair was held firmly, neatly back in a rope-like bundle behind his tall and rather elegantly shouldered frame. As he always did he wore a long-sleeved white business shirt with a surprisingly colorful tie—the thing was streaked with bright yellow and dark cerulean blue. If Mr. Aikenka hadn't been so simply handsome otherwise it would've been the tie, and not the man's face, that drew the gazes of those he conversed and did business with.

When he turned that eerie, almost unbelievable gaze on the girl that bowed before him, the usually stern and solemn businessman softened considerably. His gaze warmed, the corners of his lips didn't turn downwards in his usual tight-lipped semi-frown. "Hissori Rin." Mr. Aikenka greeted her without emotion, lowering his chin in something akin to a nod. "Come in." he shoved the intimidating, and quite heavy door wider, allowing the small woman to enter.

The door shut behind her with an audible _click._ The secretary turned genuine attention to the computer now—she would get nothing further, not while they were in the confines of her boss's office…

Inside, away from the hungry ears of his secretary—a certain Lindsey Hickson, or so he thought her name was—Mr. Sesshomaru Aikenka moved to take a seat in his plush chair behind his massive desk. Once settled he laid his eyes on the girl without true interest and motioned her to sit. "What have you brought today, Hissori?"

The young woman—one of the newest employed by the Agency that he'd seen—shyly stepped forward, her slender shoulders squared and even. In one small but strong hand she slid the heavy manila file folder onto his huge wooden desk. "Mr. Aikenka…" she murmured again, bowing. "The Agency offers its sincerest gratitude to you for cooperating with its desire to list and catalog the inuyoukai of this area…"

He narrowed his eyes at her once with some slightly unpleasant emotion before he reached one clawed hand to grab the manila file and pull it close to him. For a moment he looked back to the girl, smirking inwardly—and _only_ inwardly, never would he reveal that emotion or any other to the mortals around him, especially those from the Agency—as he considered the young agent's courage. So young—and likely spiritually gifted—he knew that she _had_ to feel his extreme power, far more than any normal youkai's. Add to that his normal demon attributes: the long and lethal claws, the pointed ears, the streaks of power, prestige and pride on his cheeks, the fiery golden eyes, and the gleam of his sharp white fangs just beyond his lips. It had to terrify the girl that he knew her _real_ name. Only agents that were assigned to the highborn youkai in _Youkai_ _Relations_ ever risked such exposure.

The girl's preprogrammed speech of thanks from her bosses at the Agency droned onward and he lost interest in it. Mr. Aikenka let his eyes fall to the manila file folder instead, opening the folder as he absently nodded at the girl's rambling thank you speech. His eyes scanned through the contents.

The result of the Agency's youkai sweep was clear. He easily saw the various population densities in several different maps. The kitsunes, the dogs, the wolves, the cats, the weasels and bears and lizards…and he saw one thing clearly: the dog and fox demons were generally the most successful, though disturbingly the wolf youkai were close behind. The neko-youkai were overpopulated and struggling, the others were minorities that had trouble fitting in—but the dogs and the foxes clearly held their own. Slowly he found himself nodding, pleased at their findings.

His father, Aikenka Inutaisho, the great leader of the dog demon clans, insisted on their clan's submitting to these yearly censuses. In his mind there was no danger and the results, when returned, inevitably revealed what the other youkai groups were up to. Inutaisho considered it an important survival tool for their group…he snapped up from the data as something in young Agent Hissori's tone changed.

"Hissori." He half-barked, narrowing his eyes at her. The girl immediately silenced herself and waited for him. Part of her training had been to recognize high-youkai moods and to obey them without question. She was a timid, clever, and effective communicator—and he was more and more impressed with her each time she made her daily visit to his offices. But now her tone had whispered something to him that he didn't like…she had other reasons for her speech today other than just the traditional thank you.

She began to restate her words, quietly drawing in a shaky but careful breath, "An investigation has begun into a youkai-on-youkai homicide in which the main suspect is an inuhanyou…" Sesshomaru narrowed his eyes in suspicion at the girl, nailing her to the spot, though she hardly flinched even under the full weight of his glare. She was well trained indeed.

"Is the name of this inuhanyou available that I may inform Aikenka Inutaisho of the proceedings?" he asked, turning his eyes away from the girl coolly, glancing at the phone instead, already preparing to place the call, though he felt that this was a tad unusual. Why would the Agency choose to send him this news through their charming, fragile _Youkai Relations_ officer? Rin Hissori wasn't the agent that would normally bring the crimes of his more distant clan-members to his attention—normally a different agent did it, a handsome human under an alias of "Mark," usually did such an unpleasant task…

"The name—Mr. Aikenka-sama," the young woman murmured timidly, cringing for the first time and staring almost wistfully out the large windows out beyond him, over his shoulder, much to his annoyance, "…the name of the inuhanyou accused is why I was sent to speak to you." She admitted, and Sesshomaru forced himself to meet her gaze, glowering with his eyes only.

"Go on." He had a sinking; anticipatory disgust and anger begin to boil over in his guts.

"The perpetrator described in a slaughtering of a kitsune family in this city justthis morning was described in near perfect accuracy to…" she faltered, seeming to eat her own lips, to chew her own words, and Sesshomaru fought the instinct to scowl at her. Under whatever pressure she was in the girl—for however well he'd been impressed by her before—was cracking now and he hated watching it. _Humans are such frail, weak creatures…pathetic._

"Speak." He ordered, and although his tone was dark, it remained calm and gentle. He revealed no emotion, as usual.

"Your younger half brother—Aikenka Inuyasha—is the prime suspect." She finished, staring him straight in the eye with her sparkling, dark orbs.

He blinked once, blandly. The news hadn't surprised him, not really—he fully believed his miserable half brother capable of something so stupid and hideously violent, especially given the volatile and dual nature of hanyous…but it didn't make sense… "Aikenka Inuyasha could not be the criminal you seek." He stated, his tone one close to boredom now.

"The survivor's testimony is an exact match." Rin Hissori objected, her dark eyes still lingering on his, unblinkingly.

Sesshomaru looked away, one lip curled slightly, revealing a bright, gleaming white fang, a tiny sign of his exasperation and disgust. "My pitiful half-brother could not have been at the crime scene. He has been with Aikenka Inutaisho for the last two days."

That seemed to startle the young agent. She hesitated a moment and then bowed, lower than even her usual. Apparently, he thought with minor satisfaction, he'd shattered her confidence—_all_ of it. "I am sorry to have troubled you sir." The girl intoned, though when she flicked her eyes in his direction he saw easily that she _meant_ it…_perhaps this girl is better than just being well trained. I'll have to request that she become my permanent contact with the Agency…_

"It is nothing." He answered; nodding his head once, blandly, "You may go…" she whirled on one heel and strode out of the room letting the door click firmly shut behind her. The scent that lingered with him after her absence was a simple and sweet thing, and he wondered if the Agency had tried to disguise her real scent or not…how much trust did they place in the inuyoukai clan? It probably wasn't much he supposed—their trust was more carefully centered on the highborn Aikenka family. It was something that he was certain his father valued greatly…if they suspected Inuyasha of wrongdoing at all it would need to be addressed—and swiftly so. But at the same time that _could_ expose too many hanyou and youkai secrets…_a difficult decision indeed._

After a moment, during which Sesshomaru stared fixedly at the open manila folder, a slow scowl bloomed over his face. Coming to a decision, his features loosened and cleared as he reached forward to press a button on his desk for the intercom to his secretary. "Lindsey?" he asked, his voice deep and dry, devoid of emotion.

"Yea-ess?" she drawled back in return, making the inuyoukai leader wince in distaste.

"Contact Aikenka Inutaisho. Tell him that I must speak with him as soon as he is able."

"But sir…" she must've been typing at the same time because he could hear an incessant tapping as she spoke, "Your father is away with your brother in San Francisco…the orders were not to—"

"Contact him _later_ then." Sesshomaru growled, and turned off the intercom, but not before giving it a brief, cursory glare, wishing it were Lindsey instead…_if only you could see my fangs, human…_he sneered.

* * *

The apartment was dark as a moonless, starless night when Kagome stepped out of the bathroom, shrouded in a long green and white striped towel. Black hair plastered to her shoulders and back, she regarded the place with the gaze of an empty, lost woman. Anyone that saw her without knowing a thing about her would've immediately been stricken by the young woman's forlorn and lonely expression. They might've queried as to whether she had just experienced a terrible break up or possibly a young divorce or the death of a family member…but it wasn't any of those things that so bothered Kagome Higurashi as she stared at her apartment. 

_The crime scene…_she shuddered again, though the heat of her shower was still with her. Biting her lips against the horror that was rising up within her, Kagome turned away from her empty, silent living room, and to the small bedroom at the other end of the short hall, but on her way she paused as she crossed by the bathroom. The orange glow from the light in that room was the only warm and inviting thing she'd seen since her shower.

Shivering, though not from the cold, Kagome stepped into the orange light of the room and instinctually looked toward the vanity mirror. It was still fogged by condensation left behind by her shower. Little droplets met up together, melded, and rolled streaking, down the mirror's length as she watched.

As a girl she'd used to write messages into the condensation, giggling little messages like, "Souta picks his nose," or "Hojo-kun is cute." Now the urge to do that same thing struck her again—but at this time the message that felt ready to flow through her fingers onto the pane of reflective glass was nothing like those of years ago…

_I'm 24 years old for heaven's sake…if I write onto that mirror it'll just leave streaky fingerprints and smudges behind when it dries. Then I'll have to clean that stupid thing…_but she couldn't rationalize it—she _wanted_ to touch the glass, _wanted_ to write something on it…hesitantly her index finger reached out to touch the mirror. Her finger flew, writing the sentence out in Japanese characters, rather than in the English she was _supposed _to be a native of. Kagome was hardly aware of anything, only the squeak of the wet glass beneath her fingertips…and when she was finished she withdrew her hand, shivering anew as she read over what she'd written, whispering it aloud.

"_Trapped here, alone." _She stared at it a moment, letting the shivers jump and twist through her…and then she reached forward again and added one final character in honor of the horror she'd witnessed just that afternoon: _blood._

The phone started to ring.

Kagome trotted—still holding her towel on—into her bedroom and snatched up the thing from where it was gyrating on her nightstand beside her bed. It was too dim in the room to notice the caller ID—and she doubted that she'd need it, most of the time it was someone from the Higurashi "clan" calling to check up on her. They were a tight-knit family, and though the Agency might move the various members about wildly, they kept in touch with one another nonetheless.

"Kagome here." She announced into the receiver, using her chin and shoulder to keep the thing in place while she struggled with her towel and searched for some underwear…_bright red bikinis…hmm…_

There was a soft feminine chuckle from the other end that Kagome knew immediately as her mother's. "I see you must've anticipated that it was me, Kagome."

"Oh, uh…" she felt herself wincing at her mother's comment. _Yes, if I hadn't been sure it would be family I wouldn't have announced my first name like that…_come to think of it, she thought, she might've even given her alias name. It was always wise to do that…how many people in the United States and Canada were named 'Kagome' anyway? "Yea Mom, you know, miko's gifts…"

Higurashi Akira chuckled lightly again, a carefree sound that Kagome was beginning to envy. Her mother was stationed back in Tokyo, close to the extended Higurashi family as well as her own family, the Gouzukus, but that didn't stop her from checking in once a week—something Kagome was very appreciative of. Akira Higurashi's encouragement, love and support were what fueled Kagome in her times of need. With the phone pressed against her ear Kagome could already feel her mind slowly cementing back together into sanity.

"You know with you, Kagome, I wouldn't actually be surprised."

"Oh come off it Mom!" she hated the heat that stole into her cheeks. She'd always worked hard to hide any above-and-beyond-the-ordinary miko abilities she might've possessed, it embarrassed her, made her subject to ridicule. Normality was what mattered. "You know I'm nothing special!"

"Never say that, you'll always be my daughter. That's special…now…you'll never guess what good news I have for you."

By her mother's tone Kagome could sense that this was "Matchmaker Mom" in action and she rolled her eyes. Desperate to avoid this sort of talk she sighed and tried to change subject, "Really? That's cool Mom, but I can't think about much tonight, you know what I mean?" she let her deeper, darker feelings and memories taint her voice, hoping that her mother would realize there were far more important things weighing on her soul.

"Uh oh, what's happened, Kagome?"

"It's my assignment. Today my partner—"

"Still Sango Hiraikotsu?" her mother interjected.

"Yes, still Sango, which is a definite good thing…but anyway, we were called away from our normal patrol schedule because there was a youkai-on-youkai slaughter early this morning…a kitsune family was slashed to death." She closed her eyes and forced her face away from the wadded up bright red of the bikini panties she had clenched in one fist like a ball…_like the blood in that little house…_her limbs started to shake and nausea bloomed inside her stomach.

She blinked a second later as she realized that her mother was still on the phone with her—she was in her apartment, wrapped in a towel, _not_ at a horrendous crime scene, sloshing with blood… "What Mom, I'm sorry, brain fart…"

Her mother snorted at the crude language but ignored it, likely because she knew that Kagome picked it up from her little brother Souta and from numerous other, generally male, influences in her life… "I asked if you're allowed to mention this to me, honey. You know that there's confidentiality agreements that need to be honored."

Kagome sighed heavily and pinched the top of her nose with her fingers, letting the towel drop. "Mom, I'm sorry, it's just that it was…brutal." She scowled at nothing and shivered and shook as the cold air of her apartment caressed her skin, "There was one survivor, a little kit…green-eyes, red hair…just traumatized, Mom…" she choked back her sob, "I gotta go, Mom, gotta get dressed, I only just got out of the shower…how about I call you back tomorrow?"

"All right—and I _am_ sorry honey…I _really am…_I know that being an agent is really tough most of the time. Just be glad for one thing Kagome…"

"What?" _What could possibly be good about the scene today? That poor kit, he saw his entire family slaughtered before his very eyes…and then the beast that did it **left** him alive, on **purpose.** A crazy demon that **wants** the Agency to know about him, **wants** to horrify us. A killer, a monster, a beast…a confident **inuyoukai.**_

"Be glad that it wasn't youkai-on-human homicide."

At the thought Kagome's heart caught in her throat. Her mother, as usual was more right that Kagome could've ever imagined, and that thought led to her next chilling consideration…_how long before this beast **does** turn his attention to humans? To agents…?_ She couldn't bring herself to face the obvious answer: anytime the beast felt like it…

* * *

Endnote: THANK YOU everyone who reviewed! We got 10 reviews already...wowies...I'm glad you guys like this AU, I like describing the modern day world this way...kay, onward we go! 

ThankYou:_**Yami Chikara**_ I'm glad it is original after all, I was worried after I started it that it wasn't...thank you... _**slummyreddragon**_ to be honest I've seen worse, more rabid and avid fans...I like it b/c the characters are delightful to write, so I do a lot of fiction for it to keep my skills sharp, though I SHOULD be writing my own novels rather than this stuff (gulps)... _**BeccaPatty**_ a lotta questions there...once again you remind me of my friend from gym class that you share a name with...she'll fire off questions really fast there and then usually add something at the very end to show her exasperation of the subject and it makes us all laugh...I hope that this chapter has actually answered most of your questions for you...(winks) _**Kereyi **_sorry this took a while...but I have a preview and everything this time around...hope that helps to make up for it, love you name by the way. _**NefCanuck**_ LOL, bye-bye convention! (puts thumb to her nose and wiggles fingers) I said I thought it might be a common one b/c I've seen many that say, "Kagome and Sango are agents..." blah blah...and I thought mine might be similar to those...or not...(shrugs) glad to hear you like it though! _**chickenseatpoodles**_ if you're name says anything about you I know you're creative! (laughs) but to be honest my writing has come a long way...years of intense reading and writing are like practicing or studying something, and soon enough it becomes like second nature. I get a feel, a flow, of words going...I see it in my mind and try to put it on paper/computer/whatever. But it took a lot of practice...writing isn't so much a thing one is born with as something one creates...though a natural desire/drive/love of words does help. (nods) keep trying and I'd bet you can get somewhere! **_sarah_**was he the onereally acting crazy though? I hope this chapter has already answered your question... _**inuyasha'sbabe07**_ the story is supposed to be taking place in the U.S...although all the characters with Japanese names are natives (formerly at least) of Japan. I had a paragraph that explained it but I deleted it in edits. Basically I would imagine that spiritually gifted humans appear in cultures that value them--like Japan, China, India, and Africa. European and Western cultures generally discourage that, at least that's been my cultural impression. So when people are needed to control the demons (which could care less whether or not the culture encourages spiritualistic people or not!) they have to recruit agents from wherever they are available, thus foreign agents are likely to be a lot more common than normal. As for my stories and writing...I've had a lot of practice over my life, but I thank you very much for the compliment (bows) Good question! **_toxiclollipop_** I'm glad you like it (grins) and the idea with the beads on Kouga last chapter hit me outta the blue...(winks) and once it hit me I couldn't abandon the idea...(snickers) _**fanfiction1**_ care to take a guess on why Inuyasha was acting the way he was? Or, if it wasn't him, who it was that looked so much like him? (sniggles evily)...

The next chapter is a discussion of themurders, the victims, what happenedto them, the investigators, Miroku's officialintroduction as well as a most hated character's addition too...(sniggles)and a little of Kagome and Inuyasha still separate, unaware that they are shortly going to have entangled destinies...Onto the preview:

_Finally Miroku looked up, his face ghostly white, "Evisceration?" he repeated, looking to Jessica for clarification. _

_She nodded, stoically. "The victim was torn open from the right shoulder to the left lower abdomen. The attacker, it's assumable, did this without the aide of a weapon—just his or her own claws. Also, several of the internal organs of that victim were disturbed. The attacker tore loose a few coils of the large and small intestine for example and—" _

_"Jessica…"__ Miroku hissed at her, silencing the onslaught of medical information, "I think we understand."_

There you are...until next time...don't forget to drop me a line! Later!


	3. Red Homicide

**Disclaimer:** No, I don't own Inuyasha.

**A/N:** All right...this chapter has some grim elements as well as a bit of humor. The first part is Kagome waking up...I've introduced her rather (at times) volatile power here, she's a bit ashamed of it. After that we have insight into Miroku's character as well as the murder.The Red family (Joshua Red, Theodore Red, and Kurome (Kiten) Red, all Shippo's close relatives, all slain by a thing that was Inuyasha, or at least looked like him.) It's pretty gruesome...the rest is just Inuyasha's "current" position and Kagome and Sango's acceptance of the case...I think that's it...Oh, becuase there are a lot of names in this story, extra characters and all, I'll try to help you keep them straight. These are a few of the main ones:

**Rini Gouzuku** is Kagome's aunt, her mother's sister. She's essentially a miko (big surprise, eh?)  
**Kari Klaebu** is Rini Gouzuku's partner, the warrior between the two of them.

Also the false names the agents use don't change continuously, they become like a role in an ongoing play, like a nickname that only agents are "in" on. The ones I've already established I'll list for you here/**Miroku:** Mark Hancock / **Sango:** Samantha(Sam) / **Kagome:** Kelly

Anyway, I hope those can be of some help...also, I havea question I have to put to you guys: What is Hojo's full name? And is Hojo his first or last name? Does anyone know? If you do, PLEASE! I BEG you! write in and tell me...thank you...otherwise I'm going to have to make one up...also guys, I didn't want to spoil it here but this chapter introduces another common character that I actually haven't had in any of my stories yet...(I'll only say this much: it's a she and she's human...) Enjoy!

**

* * *

Reds Homicide Discussion**

(_April 29th: one day after the Red family murders_)

* * *

The high-pitched beeping of the alarm went off long before Kagome was ready. Groaning, she reached over and slammed her fist against it, ignoring, in her sleep induced haze, the way the sound sputtered strangely and died. Growling to herself she shoved her head underneath the depths of her pillow, squeezing her eyes tightly shut. _If I pretend hard enough, _she reasoned, _maybe I can turn back time and get another hour…or three…or more…_

But there was no such luck, and try as she might, Kagome couldn't make herself irresponsibly fall back asleep. That little nagging conscience that her hardworking parents had instilled in her since childhood made her slowly drag her head out from underneath the pillow. _But I was having **the** greatest dream!_ She let herself relax lazily for a moment, remembering that little slice of heaven…so _vivid!_

In the dream she'd been sitting in the tiny little car that the Agency provided her and Sango to use while they were on patrol, feeling utterly wretched. She didn't know about what or why, but she knew that the feelings were intense and confused, she'd been near to tears…and then there'd been a tap on the care window and she'd looked up, startled. Presumably the hunk that was peering in at her, with his golden eyes, silver hair, rippling muscles and…white puppy ears…knew her, though in reality she'd never seen such an inuyoukai fitting that description at all.

In her dream—which seemed to jump through a timeline that made no sense to her whatsoever—the gorgeous man had convinced her to let him into the car with her. Though she couldn't remember what had been said, she knew they'd talked, tears shed and shared. Somehow after that she'd found herself wrapped in his arms, her lips against his, exploring, tasting, learning, worshipping…even while she was clearly laying, tangled amidst her bed sheets in a cold, very fatigued reality, Kagome could _still_ taste his kisses.

Hesitantly, she lifted two fingers to her mouth; her eyes still closed in a fake attempt to linger in sleep, and ran the tips over her upper and lower lip slowly…but it was no use. Though she remembered the vivid feel of his warmth against her in the dream reality was currently a lot more demanding and she couldn't reproduce the emotions that the dream had possessed.

Sighing wearily, Kagome pushed herself out of bed, blearily opening her eyes. The shades on her window kept in perhaps half the light that normally would've streamed in, but it was already too much for her tired eyes to take. She groaned and looked hurriedly away, pointing her eyes on the floor…and there she saw her alarm clock, bent, broken and…_burned?_

Abruptly awake, Kagome knelt down beside the thing and touched it cautiously. No fireworks resounded; her fingers only faintly tingled as she contacted the object. _It's full of unshaped miko energy…_she scowled, understanding all too well what had happened. In her sleepy haze she'd attacked the alarm clock as if it were a demon—she'd tried to purify it.

"Ugh—I'm such an idiot!" she groaned, nudging the offending object away from her with one foot shakily as she rose to her feet. "How am I supposed to fit in when I lose it like this? How can I get _anything_ I want when I can't even control myself?" she asked the thing she'd attacked, muttering down at it.

The alarm clock refused to talk back.

Stumbling sleepily still, Kagome trudged toward her bathroom and groaned, bumping her head against the doorframe when she realized that she'd been so eager to get to bed the night before that she hadn't done her laundry. There weren't _any_ towels! Even though she knew it was childish she clenched up one fist and slugged the wall, hard enough that it hurt her, but weak enough that it didn't dent the wall at all.

Cursing all over again, this time in pain, Kagome looked at the shower, bit her lip, and stepped into it anyway. _Towel or no towel, I've gotta have a shower…I'll just have to let my hair air dry…Sango won't mind if I'm a little late, right?_

Yea, right!

* * *

Miroku cleared his throat delicately, trying to remain unaffected as he stared at the images lying in front of him. If his emotions showed in his voice when he was talking to an inuyoukai…well, he'd be one crispy critter. Beside him, his current partner-in-training in the _Youkai Relations_ department, Rin Hissori, was white as snow, reading through the medical reports that had just come in. every so often she looked away from them, Miroku observed, her pretty face tinted a slightly greenish-yellow color. He didn't exactly relish the thought that he was next in line for that file. 

Across from him at the desk was the _Youkai Medical_ agent, Jessica Schumacher, looking cold and spotless as usual. She'd been up late into the night before, Miroku suspected, conducting the autopsies on the youkai-on-youkai homicide that had happened early the previous morning on a fox demon family. But though he thought she couldn't have gotten anymore sleep than he and Rin had, Jessica managed to look inexplicably alert, though apparently bored, by the current situation. Her dark blue eyes were focused on the atmospheric molecules that lingered between them, as if she were conducting an autopsy on the space itself right inside her mind.

Beside her sat the two homicide crime scene investigators, Kari Klaebu and Rini Gouzuku. They had been the ones to photograph the crime scene, the ones to issue the initial cautionary note on the case's suspected perpetrator. It was Rini Gouzuku who had a special ability that the Agency craved—she was very keen on detecting liars among demons and humans alike, _and_ in sensing the aura of most youkai. In every test of her abilities the woman had been found nearly flawless. She could identify what type of demon had passed through any room many hours—sometimes even days—after they had gone. Rini had visited this particular crime scene and been a little perplexed, which worried Miroku a little, especially with the way she looked so nervous now, sitting around the conference table.

Kari Klaebu, meanwhile, was an expert on youkai forensics. She knew how and why a demon generally killed just by knowing what type of demon had presumably attacked. Strangely in this case too she'd gone to the site of the crime and been confused. But now she sat, solid as a rock, waiting. Her dark brown eyes were aimed at the manila file that Jessica Schumacher had brought in with her—the medical report…

Miroku Kazana and Rin Hissori were present as the _Relations_ officers. Rin reported directly to the infamous Aikenka Sesshomaru, and whatever she reported to him went straight, they assumed, to Sesshomaru's even more infamous father—Aikenka Inutaisho. Meanwhile Miroku had the gruesome job of actually giving out the charges against a said demon or human of wrongdoing. The first step was an interview of course, or interrogation more accurately, so that was how they each found themselves there, ready to back up their respective fields of study…but their _main_ piece of evidence, short of the initial medical stuff, was testimony from their survivor, a young fox demon kit named Shippo Red. The victims were his mother and father, Theodore and Kurome Red, and his uncle, Joshua Red.

In Miroku's mind, and he suspected that the other agents who had been exposed to the case in any way shape or form reflected similar sentiments, the little fox demon's testimony was enough to sentence the inuhanyou suspect to death. But, especially considering who their suspect was, it remained up in the air. Dog demons, whether pure bred or mongrels, were a powerful lot and the Agency had to be thorough. If the dog demon clan chose to rebel it would simply be disastrous.

Kari suddenly cleared her throat and nodded her head toward Rin across the desk from her, "Hissori—Rin, honey…" the teenage agent looked up, blinking and swallowing convulsively at the lingering effect of horror that the medical file was leaving on her soul. "You might not want to read all of that. It's not all that important…" Kari pursed her lips, her jaw tightened, "Especially with what you do almost everyday, I'd leave that medical stuff alone."

Rin silently obeyed Kari's suggestion, pushing the manila folder back onto the desk. Her face was pale and tight with what she'd seen.

As Miroku reached for the file, brusquely, Rini spoke up then, her voice hesitant, "Kazana?" she scowled, perhaps not liking the formality with which agents traditionally addressed one another, "Please, when you mention the evidence against the inuhanyou suspect, don't mention that there was an aura-reading agent on the site."

Miroku threw the middle-aged woman a stern glance. His blue eyes narrowed on her dark brown ones with something close to suspicion. "Gouzuku—Rini," he started, the file still beneath his fingers, unopened, "Are you trying to withdraw your conclusions? Are you trying to tell me you're wrong…?"

Rini opened her mouth uncertainly and then shut it again. Her eyes drifted to the manila file, read over the name of the case, _Reds Homicide._ She refused to let the images, the heavy memories, swamp her right now. Instead she blurted, "I'm requesting a second opinion. A backup aura-reader."

All eyes were on her now, and Rini took a deep breath, meeting Miroku's gaze firmly. Inside her mind she remembered clearly her young and fragile niece the afternoon they'd gone to the crime scene, the way Kagome's face had creased in horror as she entered the house of the slaughtered fox demon family. It wasn't blood or death that had caught Kagome, and Rini knew it—it was the aura-reader's reaction, the evil spirit that lingered inside the house was potent…and unlike anything that Rini had felt before.

Her request had left Miroku quiet for some time, one eyebrow raised. "All right," he nodded once at her, and Rini felt her shoulders sag with relief, "I shan't mention your input as evidence, Gouzuku. And I'll see about taking another aura-reader through the house, but you know, you should've spoken about this sooner. By now the aura might've worn away…"

Rini shook her head confidently, "There will be enough, I'm sure. It was a powerful aura."

He nodded and pulled the manila file toward him again, opening it with a sigh. After a moment of reading and looking he began to recite the victim's blandest information and a little of the findings aloud. "Joshua Red, born about 1900, United States. Fox demon. Unmated and unmarried, childless. General description: green eyes, red hair, lean. Inhuman features include fangs, pointed ears, clawed hands, and bushy tail. Cause of death is massive blood loss through the carotid. Other injuries include severing of the jugular, abrasions on hands, arms, legs and genitals and face, evisceration…" he stopped, the silence in the room was deafening. Finally Miroku looked up, his face ghostly white, "_Evisceration?"_ he repeated, looking to Jessica for clarification.

She nodded, stoically. "The victim was torn open from the right shoulder to the left lower abdomen. The attacker, it's assumable, did this without the aide of a weapon—just his or her own claws. Also, several of the internal organs of that victim were disturbed. The attacker tore loose a few coils of the large and small intestine for example and—"

"_Jessica…"_ Miroku hissed at her, silencing the onslaught of medical information, "I think we understand."

Jessica scowled, "I don't think you do, Kazana." She snapped, giving each of the assembled agents a careful look before adding, "Perhaps Kari does…"

Kari Klaebu, looking quite grim, pursed her lips briefly before nodding once. "It implies that the killer was either in a bloodlust, or had a personal grudge. Demons generally don't maim unless there is particular emotion—or simple animal ferocity—involved."

Satisfied, Jessica nodded. "That's what I wondered when I did the autopsies. The other two victims were treated just as badly—worse actually, particularly the woman. It seemed to me like it was a crime of vengeance or passion…"

Slowly, gruesomely, Kari nodded in agreement, "And he left the child alive…bloodlust wouldn't have done that."

Miroku closed the file and set it back onto the table, glowering at it disgustedly for a moment before he reached for the phone that was positioned next to him. As he lifted it off the hook he glanced at Rini, "Gouzuku—find a backup aura-reader if you will. Klaebu, I want you to run a background check on the suspect…what the _hell_ is the bastard's name again?"

"Aikenka Inuyasha." Rin put in, her eyes focused inward, apparently too disturbed to watch their reactions as she spoke, "The favored son of Aikenka Inutaisho, the great lord of the dog demon clan."

"Yea, sounds absolutely _great_ for us, doesn't it ladies?" Miroku scowled at Rin's words, "All of you know what to do?"

They nodded wordlessly.

"Good…" the phone in his hands started beeping, held off the hook for too long. Miroku slammed it down with an angry sigh and then turned his deep bluish eyes pointedly to Kari and Rini. "After I call this in to the Aikenkas, I'm going to need some investigatory agents to track this Inuyasha down and grill him, and maybe his family too. I need alibis, times, dates, everything…you two choose the agents, you'll probably need a couple of them…" he lifted the phone again as he waved them away, preparing to dial the number.

Jessica Schumacher was the first out, ushering herself out without a word or even a fleeting glance goodbye. Rin followed in much the same way, but unlike Jessica she traveled like a ghost or a lost child. Kari and Rini also began to walk out, with their heads lowered wearily, but Miroku snapped his fingers at them as he waited for the phone to be picked up, catching their attention.

"Make sure the agents you choose are from Japan too, one of the fox demons was—" he cut himself off as someone must've finally picked up the phone, "Yes, this is Mark Hancock here and I'm calling for Aikenka Sesshomaru, if he isn't busy…" there was a pause before he nodded, as if to himself while Kari and Rini watched blankly, wondering if they should've already gone, "Yes, I'll wait a moment, thank you."

A second later he pulled the phone away from his ear, cupped one palm over the receiver, and spoke to them again, "The agents you choose should be familiar with Japan—one of the fox demons was a native of the Kiten kitsune clan, Kurome Kiten Red." He waved his hand through the air and moved the phone close to his ear again, "Hurry—go." He ordered, scowling at the manila file still lying on his desk as Kari and Rini filed out.

There was a click on the phone and Miroku's spine stiffened. A strong, solid, but somehow quiet male voice spoke into his ear, "Aikenka Sesshomaru speaking."

"Mr. Aikenka." Miroku nodded to the phone and offered the inuyoukai leader his alias name, "Mark Hancock here. I've just called to ask if our _Relations_ official has informed you of a recent crime involving a local kitsune family?"

"Agent Hossori?" the voice was cold, without any tips to what was really going on beneath, "Yes, she has told me. She also indicated that the suspect is my little brother."

Though he couldn't be sure, Miroku got the feeling that Sesshomaru was smirking at least inwardly on his end of the phone line. The thick sound to the inuyoukai's voice was subtle but over the years Miroku had become astute at discerning stoic youkai's real moods. Also he thought it unusual that Sesshomaru, usually so formal, would use the term "little brother." Apparently Sesshomaru thought that their suspicions were funny in some way… "May I, on behalf of the Agency, request that Aikenka Inuyasha be brought for a brief interrogation. We have a few questions we'd like to ask."

The other end was quiet for a moment, making Miroku break out in a cold sweat. Finally Sesshomaru spoke, "I think you will find, Mr. Hancock, that Inuyasha could not have possibly committed the crime that you claim he did."

"We claim nothing yet, Mr. Aikenka, we only wish to follow up all our leads, and one of them firmly points to an inuhanyou fitting your _little brother's_ description."

"Very well." Came the cold answer, "I will do as you ask. Good day, Mr. Hancock."

The line went dead, leaving Miroku frowning deeply. "Damn…" he muttered, setting the phone back on its hook. _Why do I feel like that was useless?_

He rubbed one hand over his face, trying to clear his senses of the grimness and lingering horror of the last hour or so. There were other things to see to, other agents to brief, other demons to contact…his eyes lifted to the clock on the wall. _Well, well, well…it's time that Hiraikotsu and Higurashi returned, isn't it? _Thinking of the slim and trim and utterly beautiful slayer made his mouth water, his hands itch. With such a gruesome profession—Miroku dealt with the legal charges and such that had to be run by the various youkai clans before the Agency could seek justice—he tended to let loose in wild ways, as if he couldn't control himself. He'd lost track of the number of times that he'd been faced with charges of his own misconduct, but there was just no way he could quit and remain sane—he knew, he'd tried it before.

But Sango was a little different from his usual lady victims—she was not a miko, but a slayer. Usually he hit on the mikos because they were generally quiet little things that gasped at his touches and passed them off as genuine accident. Only later, when he persisted, did they accuse him of the crime that defined his life: sexual harassment. Yet Sango had caught his eye early on, and when he'd risked a feel…she'd _slapped him._ For some reason the pain involved with the groping excited him more—and the fact that she didn't accuse him outright made him all the more interested in her, yet at once cautious…

The manila file suddenly ceased to exist, ceased to bother him, and Miroku stood up from the desk and left the room. Desperate to hide the mischievous smirk on his face, Miroku ended up looked as if he was constipated instead as he crossed through the boring halls of the Agency's headquarters. He was heading toward the lobby and the parking lot where he suspected Sango and Kagome would be checking in and leaving their Agency-assigned car behind for the day…

When he was alone in the elevator, the _down_ button highlighted, Miroku allowed himself a thoroughly pleasing grin. _Wonder if she'll be happy to see me…wonder what she'd think if I groped Kagome this time instead of her…?_

He shivered deliciously.

* * *

Kagome Higurashi yawned beside Sango, waiting in line behind a different pair of older agents to turn in their car keys. Her hand tingled as she clenched it tighter around the silver rings that held the spells for their false images. She and Sango had both taken them off and dropped their on-patrol alias names. Just as they had the day before, both agents were wearing jogging sweat suits and sneakers. On Kagome's knees there were grass and mud stains from when Kouga Takekenso had accidentally tripped her…and that was why she was holding the rings rather than leaving them behind in the car's ashtray. She'd had enough of Kouga's obsession with her. 

Ahead of them Hank Fredericks and John McKenzie finally finished with their business and left the "check-out" desk, laughing and smiling easily, but Kagome couldn't bring herself to do anything except leave her expression blank as she and Sango approached the desk.

Kikyo Sairento looked up from a careful stack of paper-clipped documents and immediately her eyes met with Kagome's. Her features, one moment light and casual, became swiftly cold like stone. "Checking out?" she asked, lightly. The dark, almost black eyes avoided them as she placed the paper-clipped stack in a file cabinet behind her and dug through the rest of its contents, murmuring to herself as she did. Finally she pulled out a large folder and pushed it toward them. "Make your report." She instructed, turning back to face a computer. Her face—so like Kagome's—was a wall.

Kagome and Kikyo were distant cousins, and had grown up together in training. Both girls had at first been close friends, but as their schooling increased and became more important, a competition started, and ended in hatred when Kikyo had been found the more talented girl—though both of them knew that that wasn't exactly true. Kikyo's abilities weren't as powerful or as varied as Kagome's were, but Kikyo had won out over her when they'd been in training simply because she could control her weaker abilities better than Kagome could. Kagome had never been able to overcome the anger she felt at Kikyo for it. It wasn't so much that Kikyo had won and Kagome hadn't—it was that Kikyo never reconciled with her, in fact she'd done the opposite. For a year she'd rubbed it in Kagome's face in some sick and twisted triumph, getting gangs of her other friends to tease the other miko for her lack of control.

The pain from those days—even though it was from a few years ago—still stung Kagome as she stood beside Sango, pretending to look at the document before them and not her old best friend.

"All right Kagome, what time was it when Takekenso—or in other words, your dear sweet Kouga-lover—tackled you in the park?" Sango snickered at her, brown eyes full of simple and unabashed glee at Kagome's obvious discomfort.

"Can we leave that out of the report?" she begged, chewing on her lip as her eyes darter to Kikyo's form. The other miko hadn't moved. Kagome hadn't seen Kikyo in a long time, the last place she'd seen her was Tokyo. When had Kikyo been transferred? And _why?_

"Nope, sorry Higurashi, you gotta record _everything_ that happens on patrol. Every demon you saw especially…"

Kagome sighed, reluctantly giving in, "I think it was…" she noticed that Sango's gaze on her drifted away and over her shoulder and stayed there. The chocolate brown eyes narrowed and remained that way. Alarm bells went off in Kagome's head but she kept talking, "…was about 10 o'clock in the morn—" she cut herself off with a squeal as something large and warm hand secured itself like a leech onto her right butt cheek and squeezed once.

Flinching away in shock, Kagome whirled round as she moved to stand behind Sango, using the slayer as a protective shield. Sure enough she saw a certain Kazana Miroku smirking at her, his wide, handsome violet-blue eyes and shaggy black hair painting him like some sort of teenage heartthrob…but he wasn't looking at her, he was smiling innocently at Sango.

The _Youkai Relations _agent strode forward confidently, eyes still locked on Sango, though they roved over her entire body once, lingering on her hips and breasts noticeably for a second. His black pants seemed to look a little too good on him for Sango's tastes because Kagome felt her partner fidgeting nervously and saw the way her head dipped once, twice, three times, taking in his form as subtly—which wasn't really subtle at all—as possible. The plain white shirt he wore as well looked too thin, too…perfect…if either woman squinted hard enough they would've surely been able to make out the tiny dark circles of his nipples beneath it.

When he smiled his clothes ceased to matter—his bright white teeth and his eyes were completely captivating. Kagome hated herself for not being able to look away…_and to think he just grabbed me and I can't stop staring! That and Sango has the hugest crush on him…I wish that he weren't such a pervert, then I'd hook them up for sure and everything would be good between them! And then there's the added bonus that he wouldn't ever grab me again…I **hope.**_

"Hello ladies." He spoke smoothly, confidently, "Just coming in? How were your rounds?" his eyes traveled between them, his handsome eyebrows arched.

"Fine…" Kagome ventured, weakly, timidly.

Sango threw her partner a brief scowl, "Unlike you, _Kazana,_" she hissed, making sure she addressed him formally to knock back his ego, "_Some _of us actually _work_ all day…"

At that, strangely, his face fell, but almost as soon as it registered some negative emotions, it fell back into a small, neutral smile. He looked toward Kikyo and the smile grew wider, "Hello Kikyo dear, how are you liking America so far, hmm?"

At her desk Kikyo had been staring at the exchange with a blank expression, which now had changed to one of amusement, and perhaps, something a little more sinister, Kagome thought, when she looked back in Sango's direction again. "I love it, Miroku-sama." She cooed; her voice smothered in sweetness.

Sango's breath hissed just once sharply and Kagome was unable to keep the smirk from her face. The sound had reminded her so much of a cat—and the thought of Sango taking on Kikyo was one that Kagome relished. Sango was as skilled physically as Kagome was spiritually. They were well matched in their respective skills. Kikyo, meanwhile, had never excelled physically, and although her spiritual power might keep Sango moving and on the run, struggling to avoid incantations and spells, Kagome thought that the slayer could take her…

Miroku's eyes slid once, slyly, to meet Sango's, and then quickly away as he threw Kikyo a charming grin, "Glad to hear it Kikyo—did I ever tell you how lovely you are?"

"No, Miroku-sama! But if you wished to say it I should be _very_ happy to hear it!"

So quiet that only Kagome directly behind her could hear it, Sango muttered, "Oh…I'm going to _kill_ her—_him_, I mean."

Kagome sniggled uncontrollably until Sango elbowed her ferociously in the ribs. "Shut up Kagome!" she hissed.

"Well—you are _very_ lovely!" Miroku moved closer to the desk and reached for her hand, pulling it away from the various files and to his tight, sculpted chest. "And I just want you to know, Kikyo, that should you ever find yourself lonely on some night—_any_ night…don't _hesitate_ to call me!"

Kikyo giggled while Sango tensed, her hands balling up into fists. She muttered under her breath and grabbed Kagome's hand roughly. "C'mon Kagome, we're through, our shift's over…"

The tingling of the spell-laden silver rings in her one clenched palm made Kagome drag her feet. _God, if I don't get the alias images changed Kouga will find me again tomorrow! How many times will I have to wrap a spell on him to make him stay away?_ "Sango!" she struggled, "Please, I need to get the rings—"

"_Forget it,_ Kagome, you can get it done tomorrow…" Sango growled, heading gung-ho for the doors that lead to the parking lot and consequently to freedom, until a voice caught both agents' attention and their charge to safety came to a halt.

Rini Gouzuku trotted the distance to them, her feet pattering over the marbled floors of the Agency's massive lobby area. "Kagome, Sango," she greeted, smiling, "You remember the homicide involving the kitsune youkai family of yesterday, right?" she started in without pause.

Both of them paled at the memory. "I think we were trying _not_ to remember it…" Sango muttered, scowling at the floor.

Rini nodded, "I know, it's really terrible…but, that case bothers me, _a lot_, and I was wondering if you might be able to help me, Kagome."

Perplexed, Kagome scowled at her aunt, "How? We're just…" she glanced at Sango and shrugged, "We haven't even been working here ten years, that kind of case is _big_ isn't it?"

Rini nodded, pursing her lips grimly, "More than you two know…but what I'm offering, I suppose, is an opportunity for the both of you to…" she looked helpless for a moment, words failing her, "…gain valuable experience. To further your careers."

Both of them scowled and shifted uneasily, but it was Kagome who relented their shared thoughts reluctantly, "It's…such a gruesome case, Aunt Rini…" she sighed and ran a hand through her hair absently, wishing that she was home and away from the Agency and its continuous mess of intricate tragedy.

With genuine sadness in her eyes, Rini nodded, "I know, Kagome, but my partner, Kari and I, would be there to help you every step of the way. You see I need…" she frowned, unhappy apparently with what she was about to say, "I need another aura-reader—you can do that, can't you?"

Slowly, guardedly, Kagome nodded to her aunt. "Yes…"

"Good!" spontaneously Rini reached out and patted Kagome on her shoulder, smiling with obvious relief. She failed to notice the way Kagome frowned at the praise in her aunt's voice. "So will you two help Kari and I with this case?" she searched their faces carefully for a moment, "You'd just have to deal with some dog demons…do either of you know anything about them by any chance?"

They both nodded, slightly, and Rini tilted her head to the ceiling, murmuring a thank you to whatever deity she prayed to, and sighed heavily. "Thank you—both of you…" she stared into their faced with a seriousness that Kagome had only seen her use on occasion when she was scolding her for having done something wrong, something bad enough that it warranted a thorough reprimand. "You know, I have a hunch that this case is going to turn into something huge…" her eyes shifted uneasily, "I just hope no one else dies." She confessed.

Kagome felt her stomach clench up nauseatingly…_yea, I hope so too—especially not us…_

* * *

The cell phone vibrated against Inutaisho Aikenka's hip as he stared out his windshield, glaring at the backsides of a hulking truck, hauling bread for the _Tastee_food company he supposed,stoppedat ared light. "Damn." He muttered quietly, throwing Inuyasha, in the passenger's seat next to him a quick glance—asleep… 

Fumbling, he reached down and unclipped the shaking phone himself, checking the ID for a moment—Sesshomaru's personal cell line. He scowled…if it was something that couldn't wait for the secretary to get to it…he pressed the "talk" button and held the thing to his ear. "Sesshomaru?" he demanded, all formalities aside, "What's going on?"

"Father." Sesshomaru answered, coolly. As usual his eldest son and heir remained perfectly calm and collected, though Inutaisho knew that there had to be _something_ very important to warrant the call.

"Well?" he asked, impatiently. The light changed and Inutaisho surged forward into the traffic, waiting for it to clear so he could turn left. "I know there must be important news for you to call us while we're traveling Sesshomaru. You know I don't like to be disturbed on such trips…" _and I know **you** don't like to call us on these trips too…_a flight out across the country to San Francisco to visit Inuyasha's mother never sat well with Sesshomaru. He was disgusted with the fact that Inutaisho would "waste his time" with a human woman, _and_—this was probably the real reason it bothered him so much—that he went to such lengths just for his only _half-demon_ son, the one that he clearly favored over the colder, businesslike Sesshomaru…

"The Agency, Father, has repeatedly asked me to inform you that Inuyasha is a murderer. He slaughtered a family of kitsune youkai." Came the almost sarcastic response.

Inutaisho blinked and swerved a little in the road in his surprise. A car horn blared at him, wiling like an obnoxious animal. Over in the passenger seat Inuyasha stirred, shaking his head once, the ears flickered and he growled lightly, "Dad—_cut it out!"_

Inutaisho didn't bother answering Inuyasha's grumbling. He pressed the phone closer to his ear, "Is that a joke, Sesshomaru?" he asked blandly.

Inuyasha jerked his gaze at his father and scowled, "C'mon—_Sesshomaru_ crack a _joke?_ I think it'd damn well kill him!" the hanyou snorted.

Inutaisho threw his second born son a dangerous glare that firmly shouted _shut up._ Inuyasha scowled and looked back out his window, huffing, "Feh!" once.

"I am serious, Father. Your favorite son is a killer, according to their witness." The great leader of the dog demon clan scowled as he picked up the mocking tone in Sesshomaru's tone. _He's enjoying this…_

"What do they want?" he asked, ignoring Sesshomaru's first goading comment.

"They want to interrogate him, no doubt, the moment that he arrives back here. I suspect if I do not promise them cooperation soon they shall release a warrant to the human authorities for his arrest as well."

Against his better instinct, Inutaisho cast a prolonged glance at Inuyasha, golden eyes narrowed. His still youthful son—at a human equivalent of about 25 years old—was staring out the window with a clear smirk on his face. The answer as to why he looked so pleased was clear—three very good-looking women were waiting to cross the street when the light changed. Two of them had noticed Inuyasha and were blowing him kisses and smiling, their ruby lips glittering. After a moment Inuyasha's face colored a little and he looked away—at the traffic light.

"_Dad."_ He hissed as the family van that was in front of Inutaisho pulled forward, rumbling, as the red light switched to green. Inutaisho pressed hard on the gas and their car lurched forward through the intersection, but not before another car horn blared in warning.

"Is this a bad time, Father?" Sesshomaru asked, his voice deep, calm—clearly mocking his father's difficulties.

"No." Inutaisho growled, "It's not. Tell those idiots to be ready for us when we get home." He grunted, and, without exchanging the family pleasantries of a goodbye, snapped the cell phone shut and tossed it toward Inuyasha.

"What the hell was that about?" Inuyasha asked as he fumbled for the cell phone that had landed in his lap.

Inutaisho's face was cold as they flowed through the traffic. He didn't move his eyes from the road at all. "Absolutely nothing, Inuyasha."

* * *

Endnotes: THANK YOU to all reviewers! 

_**Mad-4-Manga**_ Hey! long time no see! Good to hear from you! You'll be really happy to hear this: I think Sesshy shall make an appearance at least in "With Our Arms Wide Open." Perhaps Rin as well. And while I was contemplating that I got to thinking about the "Hanyou" Sess/Rin fic that I had planned...yes...I shall endeavor to start on that one soon...not sure when but soon...I don't know how many "Hanyou" companions I can have going at once! Especially with graduation creeping so close...anyway, Thank you! _**lynnie1-23**_ I can understand that, I DO "bah" a lot. I can overwrite stuff and have done so before. I've read published novels with less description than me...and I'm as yet unpupblished...so sometimes my yakking is a bad thing...thank you for trying to stuck with me still...this chapter might still lose you a bit, but worry not...next chapter Inuyasha and Kagome MEET each other...(snickers)...hope that will please you..._**NefCanuck**_ thank you! And as the lead of this chapter insinuates, Kagome shares a connection to Inuyasha as well, though they've never met, well, at least not until this chapter...next chapter they do... _**sarah**_ good question...I could've made someone up, but why should I do that when we have a bad guy who's already done it before...? (snickers) that was my own version of a hint... _**Yami Chikara**_ (snickers) thank you! This gives me a chance to write in their families and such...a great chance...soon i hope to get Souta and Kohaku into this... _**toxiclollipop**_ yes...I have been reading and watching (and living, would you believe that the Medical Expert's character "Jessica Schumacher" is modeled completely after my sister?) too many crime investigation stuff...you got more info this time around, no? Probably didn't want to hear anymore...

Well time for the preview:

_The hairs on the back of his neck and arms suddenly tingled and stood on end. Inuyasha shivered convulsively, and looked up, his falsely brown eyes searched the Agency's lobby again…and this time it was not a fruitless quest. The cell phone in his hands was forgotten completely as he stared at the apparition that had walked through the glass doors and into the lobby. _

**_Beautiful…_**

Until next time guys! Thank you all!


	4. Interrogation

Disclaimer: No, I do not own Inuyasha!

A/N: The last line in the last chapter was "Nothing Inuyasha." that's what Inuyasha's remembering and thinking of...the "secretary" he runs into at the door, I'll give you one guess who it was...(sniggles) also, do you remember the first chapter? There was a dog...see if you catch the detail of its fate...also, there's a series of swtches in semi-perspective, they are my attempt to show the chaortic style in which Inuyasha and Kagome meet for the first time, the way they are inexplicably draw. Later then, in the midst of the interrogation, Inuyasha drops that f-bomb...in light of what he was being accused of I felt it fit...but I am **_warning_** you all now, it _is_ dropped...after that I surprise you a little...is it a cliffie? (shrugs) you guys can tell me...anyway, ENJOY!

* * *

**Interrogation**  
(_April 30th: two days after the Reds murders_)

* * *

_Absolutely nothing my **ass**, Dad! _Inuyasha Aikenka thought, grumbling to himself disgustedly, as he pulled into the large, messy parking lot for the drab and bland, square office building. Outside the place a boring plaque had announced it as being called, _"The Minneapolis-St. Paul Metropolitan Population Control Center." _Little lilac shrubs had been planted, squatting cheerfully, on either side and in a semi-circle about the sign. When the hanyou had pulled in driving his bright red Ferrari, he'd felt his dog-ears fold backward, a growl lingering in his throat. 

_Metropolitan Population Control Center my **ass!**_ If he knew anything it was that, despite its attempt to sound big and utterly lame, the "metropolitan population control center" was actually one of many the Agency's buildings. It was one of so many federal offices that locals of the city passed by every day of their short lives and never gave it a second thought. The place looked busy enough, but no one that passed by it would've know exactly what the "metropolitan population control center" was in charge of monitoring or controlling…was it a census building? Most humans would never know…but behind those lilac shrubs and the boring nameplates, the building was full of demons and the agents that watched over them.

Like most demons, Inuyasha harbored a slight grudge against the mysterious human-controlled Agency. He detested their policing of the local youkai—especially when it involved himself, his clan or his family—and when he recognized a working agent in the street, which was very rare, he avoided them like fleas. His father and brother, however, being great leaders, were required to submit to whatever searches and demands the Agency felt it had the right to make. Thus, as a relatively recently born demon, Inuyasha had had to suffer through medical exams as a young pup, fingerprinting, blood-typing, and a host of other strange tests and records that the Agency kept on him.

Slamming the door shut, Inuyasha tugged his red outer shirt more snugly against his chest, but left the thing unbuttoned so that it easily exposed his white sleeveless shirt just underneath. On his feet a pair of summer sandals were half-hidden by his casual blue jeans. One ankle, though no one could see it—which was how he liked it—Inuyasha wore a black anklet that carried within it his disguise-spell.

The spidery shadows of the crab-apple tree that he'd parked underneath fell over him and the car alike, and, though no one that might've been watching likely would've been able to see it, one white ear flicked impulsively. He stared through his dark black sunglasses at the still leafless tree limbs and scowled when he noticed a very serious looking teenager staring at him from across the parking lot…the youth was, it seemed, gawking at Inuyasha's ears…

_Damn! Is the spell on?_ The hanyou hurriedly looked toward his car windows, staring at his reflection. Fair hair glinted at him in the sun—more gold now rather than the silver of his normal features, his eyes were a light simple human brown—and on his head there were no dog-ears. He sighed with relief and turned to look back across the lot, searching for the kid—but he was already gone.

Stomping up the sidewalk and toward the large set of double steel and glass doors, Inuyasha reached for one and jerked it wide just as someone else—a woman about his age—strolled through the space…their bodies collided. The woman was thrown stumbling back, squeaking a little. Inuyasha, with the better balance and the heavier body, remained solidly where he was, blinking confusedly as he stared back at the woman. She was wearing a long sleeved plain white shirt and a dark black skirt, nylons darkened her skin a few shades tanner, and her feet bore small, closed toe high heels.

_Looks like a secretary…_he stepped forward and extended his hand toward her, mumbling his apologies embarrassedly. When she looked up, her hand poised to take his, he caught sight of her brown eyes and long black hair—and blinked in surprise. _I've seen her before, I think…_but just as he was beginning to feel tingles of excitement at the realization, the woman scowled at him deeply.

She slapped his hand away. "Don't touch me." she sneered.

Insulted, Inuyasha pulled back, throwing her a glowering snarl of his own. "Geez, sorry—_bitch—_see if I ever offer you a hand up again!" he didn't miss her quick flinch as he spoke, and recognized that her reaction wasn't one his words elicited, it was one his _teeth_ had. She could _see_ through the spell that hid his demonic traits, she could see his fangs. _She's a miko._

A shiver rushed through him, though he worked to suppress it, and scowled heavily as he pushed past her and into the building. The moment their bodies touched Inuyasha felt a surge of some emotion he couldn't name—but thought it might have been relief—pass through him, wash over him like a rainstorm. _She and I don't know each other…_with a jolt it came to him that he'd thought she was the one he'd _dreamed_ of only a few days ago, the one with the changing eye color…_weirder than hell…_

He strolled to the front desk, catching a lingering whiff of the same strange woman's scent. Apparently she'd been sitting at the secretarial desk all day—only to be replaced by the man that currently staffed it mere moments before. The man occupying the space now was blonde-haired and blue-eyed, and thoroughly involved with typing at the computer. Sighing loudly, Inuyasha pounded his palm over the bell at the desk and waited, scowling, as the man rolled his chair closer, one eyebrow raised. "Yes, sir? May I help you?" he asked automatically.

"Yea—my old man said you guys want to talk to me because you think I killed somebody." He blurted, ripping his sunglasses off and tucking them into his shirt for the time being. "I'm Inuyasha Aikenka…"

The secretary blinked for a moment, stupidly, and then nodded, turning to reach for a phone. "I'll be right with you Mr. Aikenka, just wait here for a few moments…" Inuyasha watched him carefully, trying to figure out if this was an agent or a real secretary. Curiously, Inuyasha flicked his ears back and forth, hoping to catch the secretary's eye…on the third try the blue eyes of the man swiveled to the ears and locked on them, narrowed in concentration. Inuyasha was relieved—if the man could make out the ears then he was a houshi—the masculine version of a miko in the Agency—and likely an agent. After blurting his "crimes" straight to the secretary Inuyasha had momentarily worried that he'd been telling someone who didn't even know what their employers _really_ did. He was glad to see that his fear was wrong.

The secretary might've continued to stare if at that moment his query with the phone hadn't gone through. Blinking he nodded at the invisible being at the other end of the line. "Yes, tell Mr. Hancock that Inuyasha Aikenka is here for questioning, would you?" there was a pause, throughout which the secretary strictly avoided glancing at Inuyasha. Then, finally: "Thank you." He lowered the phone with a _click_ back into its hook. "An agent shall be down to retrieve you for questioning shortly, Mr. Aikenka." The secretary lost interest in the hanyou immediately and pushed his rolling chair back to the computer. As Inuyasha watched he began to type away furiously, his back half turned from the waiting half-demon.

"Uh, yeah…" he frowned, "What do I do until then, anyway?" the white dog-ears fell backward.

The secretary threw him a bored look and shrugged slightly, "Take a seat—" he gestured loosely with one hand to three chairs that stood against the nearest wall of the lobby flanked on either side by fake palm plants, "Make yourself at home, it won't take them long to get _you._"

As the computer once more reclaimed the man's attention Inuyasha shuddered in a mixture of ominous anxiety and disgust. _These arrogant mortals have some sort of agenda against me…is it because my mother was human, like them? Or because my father is a demon, not like them? Or, hell, is it just because they're such cranky bad-asses, they want to make my life miserable?_ As he took a seat, in the middle chair, with a deep scowl on his face, Inuyasha crossed his arms, glaring at the secretary in a last ditch effort to regain a semblance of control over the situation. Finally he sighed and began waiting.

* * *

_"Higurashi Kagome. Higurashi Kagome."_

Sango's palm on the gearshift paused. The slayer blinked, listening to the hum of the headphones, waiting for that one voice to repeat itself and its order. Beside her Kagome was chattering on, reading the newspaper to her.

"Listen to this Sango: "Veterinarian Kenneth Biaz described the injuries, 'Five claw marks tore into the dog's side. When the animal was hauled in he was already in shock from blood loss. Those gouges went deep.' The dog died a few short hours later. What attacked the dog? Medical officials aren't certain. The attack looks like the work of an animal, but what kind of animal leaves _five_ gouges?" Doesn't that sound like demon involvement to you, Sango? I think that we should radio this in…Sango?" the young miko's eyes were wide and almost concerned, trained carefully on her partner's face.

"Shh!" Sango hissed, pressing the headphones closer to her ears, "I'm trying to listen!"

"For what?"

"_Higurashi! Kagome Higurashi! Come in, repeat: Come in Higurashi-Hiraikotsu, come in!"_ Sango stiffened for a moment and then jumped into action, reaching her strong, nimble fingers for the radio that was connected to their dashboard, flicking it on. She pulled the thing to her lips, fumbling briefly with the curled and tangled cord that trailed behind it.

"Hiraikotsu-Higurashi reporting in, repeat: Hiraikostsu and Higurashi here." Her warm brown eyes flicked to Kagome's darker orbs, a mixture of emotion within them, a silent question hovering there: _Why Kagome? Is she in trouble?_ There was always the possibility that Kouga Takekenso's infatuation with her partner would cause the Agency to take action and reassign them both…

"_Kazana Miroku has ordered your return—interrogations are to be held with the Reds homicide case."_ The headphones whistled into Sango's ears and she blinked, a little surprised. _Interrogations?_

She brought the radio closer to her lips again, "Orders received. Returning to home base now. Hiraikotsu-Higurashi our." She put the thing away with a click, flicked it back off again. Her hand fell on the gearshift again, put the car into drive.

Kagome's eyes pinned her, begging for an explanation. "…Sango…?"

"Interrogation, Kagome." She answered, lips pursed, "Apparently the bastard responsible for killing that poor little kit's family has been brought in for questioning." A savage, sadistic pleasure curled her lips slightly, "I hope we _nail_ his ass!" she gushed.

Disturbed, Kagome looked away, out the window. _I never wanted this case; it's too terrible…_ Docile, unsuspecting and utterly innocent homes passed by her eyes, a come suburban neighborhood. None of them knew or even in the least thought about the possibility that there were monsters out there like the inuyoukai that had torn apart the kitsune family…even if they did, Kagome bitterly knew that she would never be credited with helping to keep those defenseless, clueless citizens safe from the monsters that whispered in the night, that thirsted wildly for blood…she closed her eyes to the houses that flew past as they neared the highway. _It's not about credit Higurashi, and you know it. You've never wanted it to be about that…it's about…_

The traumatized kitsune's green eyes entered her mind. She recalled the terrible keening the child had made as he clung to her aunt, Rini Gouzuku, who had been one of the first agents to the scene. He'd held onto Rini as if his little life depended on it, and sobbed wildly. His words still made her blood run cold…_ "Make them stop **bleeding! Make them stop!"**_

Her fists clenched on the armrest. Her gaze flew to Sango suddenly and she sighed heavily. "I hope we nail him too Sango, I really do." Whether she'd wanted the case or not, Kagome was determined to give the tiny, helpless kit as much justice as she could…

* * *

_So much for them calling me in soon…_ Inuyasha glanced around the Agency's lobby for the millionth time, fast losing his temper. The cell phone in his pocket had grown heavy and tempting against his thigh, despite the bolded sign above the secretary's prominent desk that proclaimed that the area was off-limits for such modern technology. After ten minutes of waiting he found himself stroking it with two fingers. Ten minutes after that and he'd pulled it out, giving into the temptation, despite the warning of the sign. He scrolled through the menu that listed all his various favorite numbers…_old girlfriend, family adviser, another old girlfriend, his father, his half-brother…his mother…yet another old girlfriend…_

The hairs on the back of his neck and arms suddenly tingled and stood on end. Inuyasha shivered convulsively, and looked up, his falsely brown eyes searched the Agency's lobby again…and this time it was not a fruitless quest. The cell phone in his hands was forgotten completely as he stared at the apparition that had walked through the glass doors and into the lobby.

_Beautiful…_

* * *

Sango led the way, jerking the door open without a hesitation. The brightness of the early afternoon sunshine glinted off the glass doors as she stepped in, only pausing to hold the thing open a moment for Kagome to follow, as if that were just an afterthought. Kagome stepped after her more aggressive slayer partner, her mind still lingering on the heavy events of their current case. She knew that after they checked in Rini and Kari would likely run them through the deeper details of the case before they'd call in the suspect. Once those details had been shared she and Sango were committed…there was no going back. 

_Can I handle such a case…?_ She asked herself as she crossed the threshold into the Agency's vast lobby area.

_You can do it—you're as strong a miko as anyone and more…_ another voice whispered in response, and Kagome felt her shoulders strengthen…a chill followed up that solidness, making her senses jump and sharpen, knives ready to stab the guilty under the Agency's blade of justice. But as she lifted her eyes to the lobby, unknowingly searching for something, she saw that there was one demon waiting in the chairs at the far end of the lobby.

She froze as shock and recognition flooded her mind. The bright golden eyes, the strong, form, utterly attractive build, the bright silver hair and most clearly the white dog ears pinned on her: _I dreamed of this demon…_

And he was staring straight at her!

* * *

Inuyasha knew he should look away. He blinked three times, thickly, taking his time, as if willing the apparition's form to disperse and fade. Was he imagining it? Could anyone else see it? He would've looked to the secretary and blurted that aloud had it not been for the simple fact that he couldn't force himself to actually take his eyes off her. 

She seemed to have the same problem with him too.

She'd stopped where she was, just inside the lobby; her bright blue eyes were trained on him and him only. Thinking about her staring right back at him, Inuyasha fought the warmth rising in his face, and, instinctually, his ears folded backward…just as in his dream the young woman's eyes—which were clearly blue now—flicked toward his ears and stayed there just long enough that he knew what she was: _a miko._

He shivered again and felt the nervous sweat break out. _It's almost exactly like my dream was…God, what's happening to me? Did the old man know about this?_ He almost growled at the thought—no, the _realization—_but fortunately remembered that it was unwise. _Unwise, huh? Try bloody stupid, baka! These people are all agents and they think you killed a bunch of fox demons!_

That sobered him, and Inuyasha peeled his gaze away from her, back at the cell phone, lamely. He heard the shoes of the other woman that had entered the lobby with his apparition-dream-woman-miko halt and a voice speak up, apparently aimed at the secretary and struggled to ignore everyone, focusing everything on the cell phone…_damn! This is hopeless!_

Defeated, he snuck another quick look at the miko apparition—and froze in her stare again. She hadn't ever taken her eyes off him, not once…

* * *

"Samantha and Kelly reporting in." Sango informed the secretary—his name was Ben Edwards she believed. Her eyes flicked nervously to the person waiting in the chairs a short ways away, wondering if he was a demon or not…_for how incredibly attractive he is he **must** be a demon…_her uncertainty was why she'd not given their real names to the secretary. 

When Ben smiled at her knowingly she felt her tension increase—it was a silent communication. Her suspicions had been right, the man waiting in the chairs _was_ a demon…where was Kagome and her miko powers when Sango needed them? That was part of Higurashi's job as a miko: to make sure that her slayer partner knew demons from humans on the spot, even though without her own spiritual powers, Sango was blind to them. That was why a slayer was always paired with a miko. She turned away from Ben for a moment and scowled at Kagome, who was still back by the doors, frozen as if she were made of ice.

"_Kelly." _She hissed, irritated.

Kagome didn't respond; her eyes were trained still on the demon in the chairs. Sango scoffed in disgust and turned back to the secretary. "Are we expected by Mr. Kazana?" she asked.

Ben's light blue eyes were abruptly narrowed at her, his lips tight. "Mr. Kazana isn't waiting for you, Samantha," he cleared his throat, "But Mr. _Hancock_ is waiting to debrief the both of you…" Sango stiffened on his words, her face flushing with self-loathing and embarrassment. _Damn it! I said Miroku's real last name in the presence of a demon…_

She looked toward the man in the chairs, brown eyes, healthy tanned skin, very light golden hair—and completely not paying attention to her. His large light brown eyes were aimed at the doors behind her. When Sango threw a cursory glance back in that direction she sighed, caught between anger and worry for her partner. _What is it with Kagome catching the eyes of demons? She's going to get herself into trouble…_

"Why don't you two just go right in to talk to Mr. Hancock, hmm?" Ben suggested, obviously having noted the same awkward and troubling situation that was transpiring between the seemingly entranced miko and dog demon.

She nodded, "Good, good…idea." she flashed a genuine smile at him, "Thank you Ben." She moved like a snake, crossing the distance to Kagome in the blink of an eye, snagging her partner by the shoulder.

Kagome jumped and gasped, caught completely off-guard. "Sango!" she growled, tearing her arm away, "What's wrong with you?" she stopped when she noticed that now Sango was particularly unhappy. The slayer's eyes were narrowed dangerously, face bleached white.

"Come with me, _Kelly."_ She growled, and led the now wide-eyed and distinctly pallid Kagome from out of the room. The miko was so dazed that she failed to look up at the hanyou as she passed out of the lobby and toward the stairs. _I called her by her real name in front of the demon…now I've really screwed up!_

* * *

Inuyasha waited only another five minutes—which passed him by with remarkable speed—brooding over what had just happened to him. The cell phone tempted him a thousand times more heavily than it had before because now he wanted to call his father and demand answers. _I dreamed about the future…I dreamed about that woman and she…_well, the miko hadn't seemed exactly to ignore his presence either. _Why didn't he tell me?_

"Mr. Aikenka?" the secretary's voice rudely intruded a second later, and Inuyasha looked up, forcing the smile that had been blooming over his face right off it again.

"What?" he barked, though his voice held no malice or annoyance in it at all.

"Mr. Hancock is here for you now." The secretary motioned with his head to the stairs across the lobby where minutes ago the miko girl and her partner had disappeared. Now a lean, quite handsome human male with curly brown hair and dark brown eyes occupied the stairway. Mr. Hancock, as he was called, slouched comfortably across the doorway, waiting patiently for his suspect to cross the room to him. That was half the investigation in itself—observing and learning a suspect's nature. Did the hanyou seem like a killer or a spoiled rich boy? Already Miroku Kazana, or as he was known to the demons, Mark Hancock, was sizing up his latest leading suspect.

Unaware of any of that, Inuyasha scowled and rose to his feet, hands shoved into his jean pockets as he walked quickly across the room. The hanyou's powerful and swift gait revealed that he was incredibly strong. Although he looked like a teen heartthrob—both with and without the magic spell on, Miroku saw as the hanyou passed the mirrored doors, giving the spiritually gifted houshi a view of Inuyasha's false human image—he was full of hidden potential, dark secrets…

The two young men shook hands warily when the hanyou reached the stairway. "Mark Hancock." Miroku gave his alias name, nodding his head in recognition of the hanyou, "You are Inuyasha Aikenka I presume?"

"Yea—can we get this over with?" he growled, pulling his hand from Miroku's quickly. "I have other places to be you know."

Miroku nodded and moved aside from the stairwell, "Do come this way then…" he gestured with one free hand and Inuyasha pursed his lips, grunting just once before he stepped forward and hurried up the stairs, cursing that it would likely alarm the miserable human behind him if he began ascending the steps in leaps and bounds. Miroku followed easily, though at his own much slower, relaxed pace, all the while carefully getting a feel for the hanyou and probing his nature, asking the seemingly simple question: _Is he a killer? Could he be our murderer?_

A short walk later through some twisting dogleg right-angle turns, Mr. Hancock let Inuyasha into a small rectangular room. It was as bland as anything he'd ever seen before—a small table surrounded by several other agents sitting in little hard chairs, a small phone on one corner lying silently. The people in the room—four other agents he supposed—were each sour-faced and stern. Their eyes were glued to the table.

Two chairs remained unfilled, both heading the table, one at each end. Miroku gestured Inuyasha forward with a light, but completely empty smile. "Take a seat Mr. Aikenka."

He stepped forward, feeling his insides clench up as if he really _were_ guilty of whatever it was they were going to accuse him of, but that sensation left him as his eyes landed on one of the agents already assembled: _her!_ He stumbled on his way to one of the empty chairs, trying to force his eyes off her, but unable to keep himself from sensing her presence, scenting her with a longing that he didn't understand. The blush that stole over his face made him scowl in self-loathing at his inability to remain stoic like his father and his brother would've in a similar situation.

Unaware of what caused the hanyou's distress the agents in the room tensed, remembering the details of the terrible crime they were currently investigating. Was he nervous because he, too, was remembering what he'd done? Was he afraid of being caught? Discreetly all four agents snuck glances at him, doing just what Miroku had done while they'd walked to the interrogation room moments ago. Only Kagome, with her alias image of the sleek black hair, the dark blue eyes, looked at the suspect with a startled, almost wounded gaze.

Miroku took a seat casually. Of all of them he was the loosest, the most comfortable. The others were all investigatory, there for evidence and initial impressions. It was likely that most of them would leave shortly after meeting the hanyou. Miroku, however, as the _Youkai Relations_ specialist, tended to run the show. After taking a long, silent breath, Miroku reached one hand toward the nearest agent—Kari Klaebu—and flicked his fingers, gesturing for something. From in her lap the woman brought forth a thick manila folder and handed it quickly over.

With his alias image's brown eyes, Miroku pinned the hanyou once, sharply, and then slid over the file. Inuyasha's hand stopped the thing before it flew over the edge and into his lap, blinking confusedly. "What?" he half-choked, apparently too tense to be able to focus clearly.

"Open the file, Mr. Aikenka, and tell me if those names and pictures mean anything to you." Miroku instructed, his voice calm and even.

Inuyasha did as he was asked, slowly trying to regain his composure. _That miko doesn't matter damn it—I have to convince them that I didn't kill anyone…_ he stared mutely at the three faces, drivers licenses. Two redheaded men and a Japanese woman, all of them in their early thirties according to the licenses. He looked up at Mr. Hancock and shrugged, "I don't think I know them."

Miroku nodded, this he'd anticipated. It seemed, according to the background check on Inuyasha, that the Aikenkas had had no open contact with the Red family. "So, for the record, you have _never_ seen those three? Joshua Red, Theodore Red and Kurome Kiten Red?"

The hanyou blinked, the gold eyes of his natural form clouded for a moment as he scowled, "Kiten? That name isn't part of the…" he stopped himself his eyes unfocused as he apparently struggled to recall something.

Miroku didn't wait for him to finish reminiscing. "Turn to the next page and tell me if those three catch your eye?"

He did what was asked of him: more records appeared, but this time they were Agency records and the faces of before that had appeared human were no clearly demons. Inuyasha saw the two redheaded men like twins in full-length body shots. He saw their pointed ears, the bushy tails they sported—on the older or the two, Theodore Red, black streaks marked the cheeks, signifying that he was the heir of his clan, the leader. Inuyasha thought of his father's markings, of his brothers…he almost sighed but withheld it at the last moment, letting his eyes stray to the woman's picture instead. Unlike the two Red brothers Kurome was a gray kitsune demon. She had black hair and a blackish bushy tail…and _paws._ The Red brothers hadn't had paws. He smirked and then wiped the expression clear, realizing that it probably looked bad to the agents.

"I see that they were kitsune youkai." He stated the most blatantly obvious thing and waited for their response.

It wasn't long in coming. Mr. Hancock leaned closer to the table, his brown eyes drilling into Inuyasha carefully. "Are you sure that you don't know them, Mr. Aikenka?"

Hesitantly Inuyasha looked back at the pictures, then around at the agent's faces. The woman who'd handed Mr. Hancock the file, he noticed, looked particularly stiff, as if she were hell-bent one catching his next words. He couldn't have known that she was waiting to here about a connection to the victims that would prove her theory of a passion killing correct. He avoided looking at the blue-eyed miko agent from his dreams, though he swallowed invisible spittle anxiously trying to avoid her. The agent that the miko had called "Sango" in the lobby downstairs was throwing Inuyasha particularly evil glares, condemning him silently, daring him to deny or resist them.

Slowly he growled, deep in his throat, his eyes lingering on this "Sango" agent. "Look you idiots—the only contact I could _possibly_ have had with them is through the Kiten kitsune clan from Japan. My father and brother have made deals with their company over there for software…it was a bad business deal, my old man _hated_ the Kitens because they wouldn't work with him the way he needed them to…but _damn it_—I didn't _kill anyone."_ He glared at them all—with the exception of the blue-eyed miko—praying that the interrogation would be over with his mild outburst.

Miroku persisted, calmly; despite the glares the others were giving the hanyou. "Are you _certain_ that you have never really dealt with any of them then, yourself? And how long ago was it that your father had dealings with the Kiten clan?"

He scowled, "It was…" he felt himself sweating, wanted to curse, "About two months ago, but I'm sure I've never seen any of them myself."

Solemnly Miroku gestured with one hand, a waving motion. "Turn the page then Mr. Aikenka, and tell me if those pictures mean anything to you…"

As Inuyasha reached for the page and turned it he failed to notice the way the other agents, even Miroku, stiffened and unfocused their eyes. The page fell over and exposed several more pictures of the victims—but this time they were crime scene pictures.

Inuyasha felt as if he'd just swallowed his tongue. His stomach clenched. His mouth gaped stupidly as he stared, eyes flicking from image to image, drawing it all in… _Blood splattered and splashed over a white wall bordered with bright, pretty pink cherry blossoms, a cream colored couch was stained crimson, a man lied at the foot of the couch, his neck cut open like a second mouth, his torso from chest to groin was split wide, a man and a woman were splayed over their bed, twisted into angles of agony, her nightgown was soaked through with blood from head to toe, her head twisted and gaped in an impossible way, the man's back faced the camera, covered in livid red slashes like sick confetti, like party streamers of flesh…_

He slammed the file shut and instinctively flung it away, his ears down turned in horror, his lips curled back to reveal to the spiritually gifted agents of the room his gleaming white fangs. "What the _fuck!"_

* * *

Kikyo pushed her keys into the door, thinking of the TV dinner that was waiting in her fridge. Yet as her keys slid into the lock, Kikyo's fingers pressing against the glinting, chilly metal, a cold chill raced through her. The young miko's brown eyes widened in shock. Her fingers slowly withdrew from the keys, leaving them swinging lightly, jangling against one another. 

Fear opened up inside her, like a yawning precipice. _No, it's not possible, just not possible…_

She inhaled deeply and put her fingers to the keys again twisting them hurriedly, before she lost her resolve. _Kikyo, get a grip. You're standing in front of your apartment in America, terrified because you think you've caught the feel of **his** aura nearby. What a fool you are!_ She shook her head against her own thoughts, chuckled once nervously as her hand gripped the doorknob and turned. _**He's** all the way back in Japan!_

The door swung open. Timidly, Kikyo stepped into it. The floorboards squeaked under her heeled shoes, protesting. Aching pain swarmed in her lower spine—_Damn heels._

She pulled the jingling keys from the doorknob and shut the door slowly, trying to force away the lingering sensation of fear, of dread…of **him.** Kikyo tossed her keys across the room toward the coffee table. They clattered noisily. Her high heels came off next, bumping and thudding clumsily. Her height dropped by two inches, and her shoulders loosened up. The lingering aura, the feeling of the room, had changed…tiny alarms seemed to shoot through her head, but Kikyo was too fatigued and hungry to register them, to give them any consideration.

Into the kitchen she came, pulled open the refrigerator. Frozen soups and fish and steaks and vegetables all placidly met her gaze, each being searched and rejected again. _Waffles, pre-grated cheese, ice cubes:_ No TV dinner. Kikyo scowled at her refrigerator. _Did I eat it sometime ago and just never realized it?_

No…

Grumbling, she slammed the fridge's door closed again and walked to the cupboards opposite the hulking freezing machine. Campbell's Soup smiled cheerily up at her, and Kikyo hurriedly popped the tab open at the top and prepared a bowl and the stove. The smell of smoke made her flinch as she realized that some other bit of food from a few days before when she'd last used it had dripped under the burners. _Damn…_she rushed off toward the bathroom, seeking a towel to fan the stench away and out the window.

A shadow rose up in the hallway—a powerful spirit flew out as well, caressing her own miko's energy with its own terrible, evil soul's strength. Kikyo gasped and tried to back away, tried to open her mouth and call out, but she knew that was futile. She would be found no matter where she went, as long as _he_ was hunting her…

Heartbeat racing like a mouse, Kikyo whirled around, whimpering like a lost puppy. Her brown eyes were wide with terror. She reached the kitchen table, fumbled as she reached for the keys, stumbled over her discarded heels, clenched her fingers shut so tightly she cut herself as gravity took hold of her, dragged her down. With a cry, Kikyo fell face-first to the floor but rolled immediately toward the door, still looking for the way out, for escape.

_And you thought you left him in Japan!_

The sound of her own ragged, desperate breathing reached her ears, and Kikyo was suddenly filled with the sickening sense of defeat: _He's going to get me…it doesn't matter whether I run or not…_

The darkness lashed out, blocking her path to the door. On instinct she tried to move away from it, backpedaling wildly, but there she ran into the same shadow too. It met her skin with a coldness that sent her muscles into automatic convulsions. It was not the touch of any normal creature, not the touch of a thing that she could even remotely consider alive—though once he had fooled her into believing that so completely…Kikyo collapsed when the thing wrapped a tentacle around her ankle and pulled it out from under her, threw her into the air while she screamed in panic.

One of the sickeningly cold, moist tentacle-arms clamped onto her mouth, silencing her, robbing her of breath, Kikyo felt a wave of dizziness crash over her. Stunned into uselessness, her body went flaccid and limp. Upside down, the thing lifted her, moved her closer to the hallway…and now she could see that he was not a shadow any longer—he was a man. Red eyes, dark black hair as straight as corn silk…the dark tentacles spread from his body like an octopus's limbs. A sick smile spread over the features.

"Kiki—or should I say Kikyo?" he chuckled darkly in his low, sultry voice, "It's been a long time, hasn't it? _Too long…"_

"Go to hell you son of a bitch!" she tried to scream around the freezing, numbing, choking grip of the tentacle, but found herself thoroughly stifled after only a few hardly intelligible words.

"Is that any way to treat an old friend?" he smiled maliciously, taking deep pleasure in Kikyo's sudden shuddering. "Now, we're going to have a nice little chat, "Kiki," just like we did when we were friends before in Japan." His smirk was sadistic, predatory, "And you're going to tell me and do everything that I tell you to…got it?"

But though she would've liked to have flipped him the bird, Kikyo found that her body was abruptly numbed, and her vision blurred. In a moment the darkness consumed her in its entirety, and she knew nothing more.

* * *

Endnote: Yes, if you hadn't caught it yet, the "secretary" Inuyasha bumped into was Kikyo. Yep...another short thank you section

THANK YOU all reviewers: **_slummyreddragon_** (Sorry though thought so, is this any better?)**_, NefCanuck _**(I actually went back to reread it when I read your review and I think you're right, they way I wrote it, Sesshomaru really IS playing with fire, as much as his stony character can with the respected and revered "Old Man." GREAT observation!)**_, toxiclollipop_**(Yep, that Kikyo, what can I say? I pity her a little but most of my stories ignore her as a character, this one doesn't, as you can well see from this chapter...)**_, inuyasha'sbabe07_**(Myoga I suspect WILL make an appearance here...and as for Naraku...(smirks) what do you think?)**_, fireofinuyashas, InuAndMiroku'sGirlSango Elric, sarah_**(You're right! But shh! Don't tell anyone...(sniggles))**_, angicakesisinuyashaluvr,_** and**_Wolf._** ...Preview time!...:

_A new fear swam through his body, making him shiver. He was still standing in the open doorway of the stairwell, but he was frozen there, as if unable to move. What would he do if he came upon this woman? The answer, as provided by a deeper, darker animalistic instinct that scared the hell out of him, made Inuyasha continue to hesitate. What had come over him? Why was he so attracted to the miko agent that he'd never even really met? Why did he have the silliest urge to race up to her and throw his arms about her? His hands itched to touch her, his lips quivered with the ceaseless possibility of their lips meeting one another…_

In what little I've written of the next chapter (I was writingmore on _I Miss You _and _WOAWO_ this weekend instead) Inuyasha is a little bit possessed, or obsessed? Can you guess who he's tracked down in the preview and is thinking about...? hehe...until next time in which the plot thickens yet again and soon we shalle meet Inuyasha's accuser--a little traumatized kit that has recently lost both parents and his uncle...Later! Remember to drop me a line...


	5. Introductions

**Disclaimer:** Nope, I don't own him or his buddies now and I won't ever...(sighs)

**A/N:** Ah! This story has become relatively popular! Wow! (grins) Last chapter was anyway...Inuyasha's obsession with the young miko he's only met in his dreams continues. And I've found a way to work in something most beloved to Inuyasha...(wink wink) you'll just have to wait and see...Also we get a look at the bad guy again. For those of you who haven't guessed him by now he shall be revealed to you now...does anyone _remember the end of chapter 1_? Before we'd met Inuyasha? There was a woman described there who interacts with the thing that at least looks like Inuyasha, NO ONE took a guess at who she was, though I left only teeny tiny clues, now she will be REVEALED...go back and cross reference them and you'll see it I think. She's yet again someone I haven't taken a crack at in my other fics, this is for a reader who requested her (though I also had it planned from the beginning except that by request I'm expnading her a bit)...things starting to take off...I'll leave a funny preview for you...see ya! Enjoy!

**

* * *

Introductions**

(_April 30th: two days after the Reds murders_)

* * *

He was drawn, inexplicably, to a set of apartment buildings on the outskirts of the city that he almost never visited. It was a fine neighborhood, it was true, but it was also a distinctly _human_ neighborhood. Youkai frequently self-segregated, making neighborhoods that were fox, wolf, bear, weasel, dog, and cat demon almost entirely…but they also left areas almost devoid of demon presence. These neighborhoods frequently housed agents form the Agency—a type of human that most demons refused to mingle with if they could avoid it. 

He _should've_ gone immediately to his father's offices just outside of the big city, he knew—especially after having been accused of such horrendous crimes. The pictures, the blood, it all still lingered inside him, hauntingly. Inuyasha felt as if he might vomit, and, finally after the third pass by one particular set of apartments, he pulled into the parking lot and stopped his Ferrari.

Clawed fingers thumped against the dashboard.

He couldn't explain it but there was _something_ about this building that comforted him, that called to him. He needed to leave, to report back to his father and older half-brother, but Inuyasha was kept undeniably in the parking lot, drumming his fingers restlessly. Thinking about the cell phone, about speaking to someone…but with a jolt he realized that the number he wanted to dial was not one he knew…

_The miko from my dreams…_

Almost as if in answer to his thoughts, a little sedan pulled into the parking lot and slowed alongside the sidewalk. When he squinted his eyes Inuyasha saw two women in it, both dark haired and oriental in appearance. Though he was sure he hadn't seen them before, Inuyasha waited, still impatiently tapping his claws.

After a moment the woman on the passenger side opened her door and stepped out. As the small car, still with the woman who had driven her home, he assumed, sped away, the departed passenger paused and slowly lifted her hand to wave. Inuyasha blinked as he stared out his windshield, suddenly battling the urge to leap out at her, to respond to her goodbye as if it had been a hello aimed at him. He was aware of the way his palms were thick and sticky with sweat, the pounding of his own heartbeat inside his ears. _Why the hell am I feeling like this just looking at her? I don't know who the hell she is yet!_

The woman started to turn away and walk around the back of the apartment complex; apparently she was going to take the stairs. Inuyasha fidgeted restlessly for a moment and then growled to himself as temptation won over responsibility and caution. He threw them both straight to the wind.

In a flash of blue jeans, a red button up shirt and a bright white sleeveless undershirt, Inuyasha crossed the parking lot and sniffed quietly for the now vanished woman's scent. When it reached him the hanyou's eyes widened in shock. _She's a miko from the Agency!_ He knew that to be fact simply because the woman's _real_ scent was cloaked beneath a generic false one that the agents applied to confuse youkai noses…and yet through it he could _still_ catch bits of her real scent, and it made him dizzy.

As he headed toward the stairs, still inhaling deeply to catch the lingering scent of the fleeting miko, Inuyasha realized with a jolt that although this miko had _looked_ different from the one he'd seen at the Agency, she was, in fact, the same woman. This false scent was the same as the one the blue-eyed woman at the Agency had sported. He remembered it clearly tickling his nose and driving him insane while they'd been cooped up in the interrogation room. _Then that means…_

He'd dreamed of this woman.

Agents, he was dimly aware, went to great lengths to keep their real identities a secret from the various youkai they policed. It was a necessary measure. He'd never really cared about their disguises until now. Now it was _really_ confusing, and frustrating. His instincts screamed that he should know this woman as she _really_ was. No, it wasn't a matter of wanting to—it was almost a _need._ Like a burning, twisting hunger, like a hot, dizzying thirst…

_I think I really will murder someone unless I can find her and…_

And what?

A new fear swam through his body, making him shiver. He was still standing in the open doorway of the stairwell, but he was frozen there, as if unable to move. What would he do if he came upon this woman? The answer, as provided by a deeper, darker animalistic instinct that scared the hell out of him, made Inuyasha continue to hesitate. What had come over him? Why was he so attracted to the miko agent that he'd never even really met? Why did he have the silliest urge to race up to her and throw his arms about her? His hands itched to touch her, his lips quivered with the ceaseless possibility of their lips meeting one another…

Rational thought reestablished itself a second later when Inuyasha heard the steady thudding, clattering sound of shoes on the stairwell. For a moment he panicked, sure that anyone seeing him would know immediately that he was in the wrong, that he was fantasizing about some woman he'd never met, let alone exchanged so much as a greeting with. Then the hanyou reacted with instinct, turning quickly and rushing toward the sidewalk, trying to look as if he were about to cross the street, or was just out and about enjoying the spring daylight.

He listened to the footsteps of the person behind him, recognizing the tread of a man, and sighed with relief as the sounds passed him and faded as they proceeded along to the other side of the building and the large parking lot. In a moment Inuyasha heard a car engine rumbling to life and heading away sluggishly. A thought struck him suddenly that made his body stiffen; his slow walk cease.

_Did I lock the doors on the Ferrari?_

Panicked all over again, Inuyasha dashed toward the parking lot…until his hyper-sensitive hearing picked out a voice that was familiar, somehow managing to filter down from the apartment's upper levels… _"Sango!"_ it shouted joyously, the exuberant answer to an annoying ringing of moments ago…_the same name of the agent that'd been with the miko earlier._

This time Inuyasha was completely possessed. He followed the voice and the fading scent up the stairs at a gallop, only quieting his approach when the scent and the voice stopped—the third floor—and left the stairs to creep, investigating the apartments one by one. Hers was the one on the left closest to the stairs. He stopped there, still as Death stalking its prey. Though the spell hid them, Inuyasha's ears flicked in every direction with desperate nervousness, all his senses strained and on edge.

From the other side of the door the young miko's voice floated, to Inuyasha it was a beautiful fluting sound, almost like music, or the poetic rustle of the wind through the summer grasses… _"Yeah, I know what you mean, it's about time we had some more free time. What movie do you want to go see?" _

Inuyasha's clawed hands bit into his palms as he strained to hear everything that went on just beyond the sheet of wood that separated them…

_"Oh no Sango! Not that one! Let's go see one of the kiddie ones or the romance movies. Whaddaya say?"_

When her voice came next Inuyasha smirked, _"No, I don't think that one's a 'chick flick.' It's just mushy and not gory or anything. At any rate after that interrogation today how could you even consider a **horror** movie!" _

The hanyou's breathing ceased. Would she reveal what her opinions were on him? How had he done? _Does she think I'm a killer? Does her friend—what's her name? Sango, that's it!—think I'm a murderer too? _

The hanyou's breathing ceased. Would she reveal what her opinions were on him? How had he done? 

_"Well I'm sorry but I—"_ she as apparently interrupted a moment by Sango saying something crude or outrageous, _"What! That's not true! I wasn't looking at him that way! How could you say that Sango? You're going to get me into trouble!" _

Inuyasha thought his lungs were going to explode. Were they talking about him? How much longer would he have to hold his breath before he'd know?

_"Well, yeah, he was cute…"_ her voice grew quieter, Inuyasha moved unabashedly so that his right ear was smashed against the cool surface, but he kept one golden eye on the stairway, _"…but I don't think he **did** it…"_

_Score one for the home team!_ Inuyasha pressed his ear closer to the door.

_"Why? Well, firstly because he's an Aikenka. That family is too high and mighty to let something this horrific happen. And secondly…"_ there was a pause, apparently Sango disagreed. After a moment the miko's voice sighed, heavier now with something akin to defeat. _"Yes, you're right Sango, he **is** a half-demon…" _

_Damn!_ Was she going to silently hate him for being a hanyou too? Demons saw him as weak and unpredictable, thanks to his human side, while humans saw him as conniving, a silent but very grave threat to their "purity." With one ear against the door, both clawed hands propping him there, Inuyasha scowled wordlessly, hating the Agency—and himself.

As a hanyou he was difficult to control. He was emotional—thank you his human mother. He was powerful—thank you his youkai father. The two characteristics combined made him volatile and dangerous, to others as well as to himself.  
He closed his eyes remembering the night he'd awoken, years ago at about the human age equivalent of puberty, and discovered that he'd attacked his mother and father as a mindless beast, a fully transformed, but brainless demon. Inutaisho had subdued him—using physical superiority to tackle his son and force him to emerge from his feral state. The shame that came with Inuyasha's loss of control was like a physical wound, it tore through him, robbed him of clear thought…a strange grief stole over him.

_This woman I dreamed of is part of the Agency, a miko_… he knew what the agents were told about hanyous and about demon-human relationships of any kind. They despised them. It was preached that demons and humans were of two separate scales of spiritual energy. Demons used one, humans the other. Their souls fought one another, struggled, and destroyed. They couldn't coexist well in close, intimate proximity—thus couples of mixed heritage frequently led to murder, assault and rape…or so it was said by the Agency.

Demons were to marry among demons, humans in their turn among humans. Half-demons weren't supposed to easily exist, though when they did it was a fluke of nature, and the hanyou was therefore the worst type of creature one could come across. Hanyous, they said, could work both spiritual spectrums…whatever that meant Inuyasha didn't know and didn't really care, but he knew one thing clearly: if the miko on the other side of that apartment door believed that BS she'd never give him a second look…

He prepared himself for whatever answer she might give her friend—her partner he was beginning to guess…his hands tightened into fists, curled up. The claws raked over the door: SCRAAAAPPP!

The sound seemed impossibly loud to the hanyou.

Inuyasha froze, he swore even his heartbeat ceased, all attention, all conscious awareness, was focused just beyond the slab of wood between himself and the miko. It was quiet—_too_ quiet…and then he heard a quiet murmured whispering. When he strained to hear it Inuyasha realized that it was in Japanese…he felt a strange heat like drops of warm water around the back of his neck and blinked in confusion, looking down to see a strange, hazy light…

The miko's voice from the other side rose up then: _"SIT!"_

With a yelp Inuyasha plummeted into the hallway floor, his nose smashing into the bland, trampled carpeting. _What the hell…!_ He pushed his hands to either side, palms down, and tried to get up—only to feel as if there was a sack of heavy bricks tied to his neck.

The door, just within his peripheral vision, swung open wide, and the hanyou caught sight of two white, sock-bundled feet, peering at him. He cursed inwardly, tried to push himself up again, and failed.

"Shit!"

* * *

The shrill chiming of a phone rent the air and the woman sitting on the plush, cream-colored couch flinched at it. Her hazel-green eyes swiveled about the room, a caged animal, a stifled beauty. Her red-streaked blondish hair rippled stiffly with every movement of her head. It was slowly but surely coming out of her chignon, short, spiky strands of it stuck out at every angle here and there, making her look like a disgruntled porcupine. 

Jade earrings swung back and forth from her ears…

The phone continued to ring, and though the woman tensed at it, she didn't get up to retrieve the thing. Her eyes roved the room, waiting for the inevitable.

She didn't have to wait very long.

A man strode into the room; his irises were a crimson color, red like blood. The hair that he sported was long and blacker than the moonless night. He might've been incredibly handsome, even somewhere close to beautiful if he had been female. But the expression on his face—one of conniving cruelty—would leave no one that beheld it with anything short of fear.

Seeing the woman, still sitting stiffly on the luxurious couch, he grinned, though it was not a look of mirth, rather one of sadistic pleasure. The woman's jaw tightened, the muscles flicking, and she looked away, the disgust and outrage she felt evident. No words were necessary between them; the hatred was nearly tangible.

The man reached the place on the wall of the hallway between the living room and the kitchen and snatched up the phone from its cradle. His red eyes focused on the woman's form unceasingly, the same sadistic glint shining in them as he spoke.

"Hello?" from out of his lips a feminine voice emerged, and as the woman's head snapped up at it, her face marred by shock, the red-eyed man's leer at her grew a thousand times over.

"Hello? Miss Pezar? Cassie?" a man's voice demanded gruffly from the other end.

"This is Cassie." The leering man's sick smile grew, if that were possible, even larger. His voice was just as the woman's would've been had she been the one speaking—they were identical.

Hazel-green eyes flashed defiance, fists clenched furiously, but still she said and did nothing.

"Oh, good, Cassie…" the voice turned suddenly tense, shot straight into business, "This is Charlie. I need those pictures you took from the press release yesterday…where have you been? None of your articles that were due yesterday got in! Has your computer broken down?"

"I'm afraid," the man's female voice continued on, sounding sarcastic, "That I don't waste my time talking to lame little bastards like you, Charlie." His eyes glittered with satisfaction when the woman he was posing as suddenly shot to her feet and moved to stop him. He raised his free hand towards her, palm outward…

The woman managed only a tiny gasp before she fell to her knees, clutching at her throat, her heart, struggling to breathe.

"…Cassie…!" the voice on the phone was somewhere between wounded and outraged, "I'm your goddamn editor!" he spat out, too astonished to do anything but swear and point out the obvious, which was that she had to respect him to continue with her job…

"And you can kiss my pretty little ass, Charlie. I quit." He leisurely placed the phone back into its cradle, smirking evilly the whole time, staring down at the breathless woman at his feet.

"…You…bastard…" she choked out, her face still contorted in rage.

He chuckled, his voice now, abruptly, deep and masculine. "I suppose you're right—I was born of unwedded parents, wasn't I?" he knelt to be on her level, extending one hand toward her, offering her help that he knew she loathed and would never accept.

She slapped it away, "You prick—_why are you doing this!"_

His smile was cruel, "Oh, but Sister, I've missed you in Japan. Haven't you missed me as well?"

"Go to hell!" she sucked up a wad of saliva and spat it at him—only to leave her mouth hanging open in astonishment when his hand sprung up just in time to stop the disgusting wad from smacking him the face.

He scowled—but a small amount of his usual sadistic pleasure remained in his red eyes, glowering out at her. "Sister." He let out a small grunt of what might have been interest, "You've changed your name, buried your heritage…was life really so cruel to you in Japan?"

She didn't answer; her face was hidden from him as she struggled, seemingly, to breathe. Her chest heaved, she was fighting tears that held such rage and anguish in them…her body trembled. She felt mortal though she was far from it—even farther from it than the man in front of her could ever claim to be.

He rose to his feet, hesitated over her shuddering form and nearly whispered, with his deep voice, his next words: "It's all changed now, Sister. The life you've tried to hide from has caught up with you, and it'll use you however it pleases—whether _you_ like it that way or not."

"I'll _never_ serve you…" she breathed, still speaking to the floor, her head and face lowered from his disgusting view.

Her words elicited laughter from the red-eyed man. "You will do what I tell you to, when I tell you to do it, or…" he smirked down at her, though she didn't look up to see it, "…I will kill you, Sister."

The trembling of her body became uncontrollable. Despite it all she feared death, and she _knew_ he wasn't lying…she said nothing in response to him but the man knew he had her under his control. She was his younger sister, and because of what he was—neither demon, nor human—he had the power to control her, to keep her locked up. It wouldn't be hard for him to simply end her life as well…

His footsteps started away from her crumpled form, slowly, confidently. At the doorway he stopped and turned back to her defeated body. "I have brought Little Sister with me as well. There is no stopping me now, Sister, and you know it. From this day forward the pathetic human life you have led as a façade to your real one will come to an end. You will do nothing without me knowing about it and approving it…Sister!"

The voice was a command, and, unable to do anything otherwise, she looked up, her hazel-green eyes wet and running with tears, her lips tight with rage and shame. "Damn you Naraku!"

The red-eyed man smiled smugly, his eyes narrowing with a sense of triumph. "Tell me your name, Sister." He half-whispered, knowing she could hear it.

She shook; bit her lips as if to keep the answer from coming…and then spat it out as if vomiting. "Kagura Onshuku!"

The man nodded once, satisfied with his torturing of her for now. "Good, Sister. I must go. There is a miko waiting for me across this wretched little city."

"What…" her voice failed her and the woman, Cassie as friends and coworkers knew her, Kagura as she was known only by those from Japan and her dreaded, hated family, faced her older brother with a blank, defeated gaze.

Naraku heard her and smiled slightly, sadistically as always, just a little, as he turned toward the door of her apartment. "An old acquaintance, Sister, who I've had the pleasure of running into again. She, just like you, has been most pleased to see me."

"You _bastard…_"

"Goodbye Kagura." The door opened and closed, leaving the woman suddenly alone and shuddering in what had once been her sanctuary, her stronghold. Her home was invaded, her life destroyed…

_It's not as if it should surprise me—Naraku has always found me, no matter what I do, no matter where I go. We are family, I'll never escape him, ever…I'll **never** be free._

Kagura lowered her face to the carpet and let the tears come—no matter how shameful—mourning the life she had thought for a time she had been blessed with.

_America is no more "Land of the Free" than Japan was…I am a slave no matter where I go._

* * *

A gasp cut the air above him, and Inuyasha cringed, his eyes squeezing firmly shut. _Damn it! Damn it! **Damn it!** Why the hell can't I get up! She's going to **kill** me…and I'll never get a kiss from her then…_he cut the thoughts short, fearing the crimson heat that was stealing over his features, and cursing the strange compulsion that had gotten him into all this crap in the first place. 

Palms out on either side of him again, Inuyasha started to push himself off the ground again when the miko's voice rang out above him: "Sit!"

The weight on his neck returned and Inuyasha slammed with a howl of pain into the floor again. _She said sit the first time that this happened…_ he became aware of a fading heat at his neck, remembered the drops of warmth that had been about his neck the first time, the strange light…his mind reached the conclusion and he gaped stupidly into the floor.

"Sango—it's _him._" He heard her whisper above him, still on the phone apparently.

_Damn her!_ He put his palms out for the third time, moving slowly this time, praying that the already hated word wouldn't issue from her lips again—and it was _so demeaning_ too! Imagine himself—the son of the renowned and powerful inuyoukai leader Inutaisho—at the mercy of a word that mindless mongrels across all the U.S. ate dog treats for!

Inuyasha slowly regained his footing and moved a good distance from the gawking, astonished miko agent. He felt his ears firmly smashed against his head and knew that she could see them, knew she would know they indicated just how angry he was…a low warning growl issued from his cavernous chest and ended just as suddenly as the miko's face burned bright red.

"I-Inu-Inuyasha…" she half-gasped, half whispered, gaping at him, and then, blinking as some voice jabbered away on the phone, her blush grew tenfold. She shook, stammering, "Shut up Sango!" and pulled the cordless phone away from her ear. A beeping sound announced that it was off, whoever 'Sango' was had been silenced.

She faced him now with a sterner—though Inuyasha could clearly see, and scent, that it was a façade—colder expression. She was playing the agent now, though Inuyasha noticed with a start that although she had yet to shower the false scent off, she was brown eyes, Asian, and black haired, unlike before in the Agency's lobby area when he'd first seen her. She was without her alias image, she was _exposed_ to him…

It was as good as being naked to an agent…Inuyasha fought the blush that tried to establish itself at such a thought, though no spell could stop the young miko from seeing the way his ears flicked forward once in uncertainty and nervousness.

"Mr. Aikenka." She began, stern and cold, "What are you doing here?"

He drew a blank, stared at her stupidly, and then scowled angrily. "What the _hell_ is your problem, bitch?" he hissed, gesturing at his neck furiously, "I'm not going to hurt you, stupid!" a sound down the hall made one ear turn that way, but he ignored it, waiting, his golden gaze pinning her from underneath the masking spell.

The miko blinked and shifted uneasily, her arms crossed over her chest—pulling the casual tank top that she was wearing even tighter over her breasts. For a moment Inuyasha thought he might turn and run away from her, crash through a few walls and jump down the multi-story apartment building, just to escape the bizarre attraction he had to her, but somehow, he stayed where he was, staring her down.

"Inuyasha…" she stuttered, her lips and tongue forming the sound of his first name as if it were natural, a thing she'd said for uncountable years, though her brain screamed otherwise. Not only was young Inuyasha Aikenka a half-demon, the most feared type of creature that a miko of the Agency could ever possibly face, or so she'd been taught, but he was also the prime-suspect of an atrocious murder! That she wasn't calling for backup was close to a crime within itself—that she was trying to _talk_ to him was worse still.

"How did you find me?" she blurted, frowning in confusion.

"I…" he stopped abruptly when a voice came from down the hall, where, moments before, a sound had attracted Inuyasha's attention but he had steadfastly ignored it in favor of talking more to the miko. Now he regretted such a lapse in attention.

An elderly man scowled out at the couple from his apartment a short distance down the hall. In his old, tired and crabby voice he rasped out, "Kagome! Is that bastard you're talking to bothering you?" he glared threateningly in Inuyasha's direction, radiating disapproval on multiple levels.

Inuyasha felt himself shrink, despite the arrogance that he used to keep his ego boosted. Fearfully he looked to the miko—who the old man had called "Kagome,"—and held his breath, some part of him daring to _hope_…and what he saw there made his heart take off as if it wanted to sprout wings and fly. _She's **thinking!** If she were just going to throw me out she'd have done it by now…I think…_

Her gorgeous, deep brown eyes flicked back to him, still undecided he sensed, but the miko shook her head, a movement so gentle it was barely perceptible. She didn't remove her gaze from Inuyasha when she answered the old man: "No, Mr. Hite, Inuyasha just has some explaining to do…"

Down the hall Mr. Hite seemed unconvinced. "I know you young women think you're invincible but…" he glared a little more for good measure at Inuyasha, "Just so you know, I'll be waiting at any second to call the cops on your scrawny little ass, punk!" he growled at the hanyou, who must've been at least 50 years younger, and _far_ from scrawny.

Inuyasha bristled, "Whatever old man! You just mind your own business will you?"

Immediately the miko scolded him, "Inuyasha! Don't make me…_punish_ you."

The hanyou glared at her, acutely aware of the seemingly insignificant weight of the beads about his neck, the rosary necklace that he already sensed would be a continuous source of torture… "Feh. Whatever."

Mr. Hite disappeared, grumblingly, into his apartment again, slamming the door like an unruly teenager behind him. As soon as he had vanished the miko looked at Inuyasha again and, biting her lower lip as if making a decision, she stepped back a little, pushing the door open wider with her backsides. "Would you like to…" her voice died, the ridiculousness of what she was asking seeming to settle in on her…_maybe he'll murder you like old Mr. Hite said…_

Inuyasha's golden eyes were turned away, hesitant, cautious. "Only if you'll take the damned beads off my neck." He grumbled.

"I can do that." She answered, but what she thought was: _Not a chance…_

"Fine then." The hanyou pushed past her rudely, arms crossed over the sculpted chest, white ears still pulled backward, facial expression still strained. The apartment reeked of her—though it was a different scent from the one she currently bore, Inuyasha could tell it was how she _really_ smelled…and even in the false scent he could still pick out elements of the real one hidden within it. He tried to push this knowledge aside—her sweet, thick, heady scent was turning his insides into mush—and instead attempted to focus on the apartment and the room, the furniture…_anything_ but the scent.

Behind him the miko cleared her throat, "So…" as he turned round to face her she thrust out one small, delicate hand in greeting, "My name is Kelly."

He scowled, remembering Mr. Hite from a few seconds ago calling her the Japanese name _Kagome._ Despite that he took her hand in his own, large, strong and masculine palm, pumping their clasped hands up and down a moment. It was only after he'd released his grip on her that he asked, "I thought the old fart called you Kagome…?"

The miko paled and then turned a bright red. _Obviously she lied…_he waited, still scowling, still unwilling, or unable, to either flee from her or to be comfortable…

With a deep sigh she gave up and faced him, squaring her shoulders bravely, "My name _is_ Kagome, like Mr. Hite said." She eyed him harshly, "And because you know my real name I'm afraid I am going to have to refuse to remove the necklace."

"WHAT!"

She cringed at his outburst but refused to relent under his death glares; "It's for my protection, Inuyasha!" she blushed at her slip—which was becoming a steady habit they both noted—and stuttered as she struggled to amend it quickly, "Mr. Aikenka…" she played the oldest trick in the book: changing the subject. "How did you find me? What did you come here for?"

"I…" he hesitated, suddenly nervous. _Tell her the truth? That I felt drawn to this place and then when I saw her getting dropped off I followed her up here? She's going to think I'm lying and that I've just been stalking her from the very beginning! And if I told her I dreamed about her…then she'd turn me into the Agency and tell them I was insane for sure!_ What options did that leave him…? What was she waiting to hear? Or wanting to hear?

He took in the false scent, searching for the _realness_ underneath the fading disguise, seeking her emotions…and he found her uncertainty, her tenseness and fear…but it wasn't the stink of blind, mindless fear, it was the nerve-tingling anticipatory reaction one feels when confronting another and trying to hide the importance of the matter. She was, just as he'd suspected, just as flustered and tangled up in his sudden, unexplainable appearance outside her door as he was.

Growling, the hanyou turned his face away from her, wrapped his crossed arms more tightly about himself, and muttered, "I just needed to follow one of you damned agents to make sure you know I didn't do anything wrong." He cringed inwardly at his feeble explanation. _That was lame! Lamer than Sesshomaru on a Saturday night!_

The miko, Kagome as she was called, had averted her gaze guiltily. "Yea, I know it _is_ a really horrendous case…" she chewed her lower lip as Inuyasha looked up to watch her expressions change, "…and unless you have a really good alibi they'll pin it on you just to solve the case." She shook her head, sounding irritated or frustrated, Inuyasha wasn't sure which. But her words and her tone left him one answer very clearly: _she thinks I'm innocent…_

"Kagome…" he spoke her name as if tasting a rare and exquisite dessert, the syllables seemed to belong in his mouth he noticed, and a small shiver of satisfaction trailed down his spine.

At hearing her real name from the hanyou's lips the miko shifted uneasily, moving a step back, but her dark brown eyes remained focused on him, carefully observant.

"You know I didn't do it, don't you?" Inuyasha breathed, white ears for the first time turned and focusing directly on her in an open eagerness that made the young woman blink in bafflement.

Slowly she nodded, "I…" she looked away, one hand idly covering her mouth as if to keep a confession from leaping out. _How am I supposed to tell him that I dreamed about **us?** This is crazy! I need to call Mom…_her thoughts were derailed when Inuyasha's strong, clawed hands landed on her shoulders and stayed there, the warmth of those appendages making her jerk her eyes back toward him.

Their gazes met, focused, and lingered.

"Will you…" the hanyou paused, frowned in uncertainty, and then plunged on nonetheless, "Will you keep me in the loop with whatever those bastards are saying about me? You know I'd never hurt anyone—" he seemed to cut himself short and, as if regretting his words the hanyou looked away. Kagome stared at his averted face and thought: _He's hiding something…_but she didn't press, and though the chills were still racing wildly through her, Kagome realized that somehow, though it was a stupid move her rational thought reasoned logically, she _trusted_ this hanyou…trusted him with her life though they had only just met…

Slowly she nodded and the movement made Inuyasha's head turn immediately toward her. The golden eyes seemed to gape at her in wild, but distinctly relieved, disbelief. The fangs were revealed in a small, almost smug smile. "Really?"

"Yes…" a sudden thought came to her, and she restrained the urge to grin at the cleverness of it, "Meet me tomorrow in the Pine Grove Park at about 9 AM." She couldn't stop the mischievously hopeful gleam from entering her eye, and Inuyasha noticed it though he gave no sign, "Can you do that for me?"

He nodded once, his face stern. "Yea…though I might be a little late."

"That's fine. Just…make sure you're there before 10." She cringed as the phone began ringing from the coffee table where she'd set it. Her eyes flew to Inuyasha and she thrust one finger at the door commandingly, "Go—I'm not supposed to talk to you."

Wordlessly Inuyasha obeyed, stomping out of the apartment and into the hall. He closed the door behind him as soundlessly as it was humanly—or half-humanly at any rate—possible and took a long, deep breath, letting his weight fall against the door as his muscles loosened. He could hear Kagome's voice answering the phone inside the room, a cheerful cry of "Mom! I was just about to call you!". He smirked at the sound of rushed, forced cheerfulness and paused to smell the lingering scents she exuded, both the real and the false one, committing them to memory…

A white ear flicked as the squeak of a door's hinges registered in the hanyou's mind. His disguised brown eyes swiveled that way, narrowed in annoyance. Sure enough old man Hite was glaring at him from a partially opened door a short distance down the way. Glaring right back just as fiercely, Inuyasha pushed off away from Kagome's apartment and walked confidently toward the stairwell, his head held high.

A short time later Inuyasha found himself in the Ferrari, the engine revved and purring, ready to lope easily away under his command like a savannah antelope over tall grass. His fingers shook when he reached to crank up the music on the stereo. Almost unbidden the young miko's name reemerged from his lips, slowly, as if it tasted good and he was going to savor every delicious moment, "Ka-go-me…"

He felt the stirring of that dangerous, seemingly mindless animalistic side of his mind, and shivered with a mixture of delight and fear. If he concentrated just hard enough he could make out what it was saying too: _She's mine. Mine. She's all mine. Mine._

The cell phone was lying on the passenger seat, seemingly leering at him. With a snarl he reached over she snatched it up, swiftly dialing his father's work number…it was busy. Angrily he chucked the cell phone away and clutched the steering wheel with new fervor. _Dad, I'm going to kill you if you don't tell me what that dream meant this time…_

The Ferrari squealed as it zoomed out of the quiet apartment complex and into the relatively quiet mid-evening traffic.

* * *

Endnote: THANK YOU ALL! YAYS! Sorry thins didn't get put up sooner...but thanks for being there for me! 

Thank you: _**InuAndMiroku'sGirl Sango Elric**_ ((snickers) I'm glad that you enjoyed their slip-ups...it's probably going to become an inside joke with this story...a little mind boggling...and the crime scene, I just had to put a reaction in there like that, b/c it's a reaction an innocent person would make to it...thank you!) _**toxiclollipop**_ (hehe, you were right!) _**fanfiction1 **_(The dream was the alias and real images ontop of each other, b/c as this chapter shows, he has seen her in alias image and reality all in the same day...question is what does Daddy Inutaisho have to say about it...?) _**NefCanuck**_ (definately the real bad guy...lol...) _**slummyreddragon**_ (those are more romance fics, and this one is mystery but you know (grins) if I can keep you reading nonetheless...I've done my job b/c youmust be at least a little entertained, no? Don't worry, the other stories will keep coming too...) _**Mad-4-Manga**_ (actually I HAVE missed you! You've been a regular and then you disappeared...but I understand what it's like to be busy, believe me...thank you, I'm glad this pleases you, you like the mystery, eh? (snickers) I'll keep it coming. You should love hearing that Sesshy and Rin make an appearance in my latest _WOAWO_ chapters, and I'm planning on one-shots with them in it, like how Rin grew up and then, as soon as _WOAWO_ is done I think I shall start on my Hanyou continuation of Sesshy and Rin...) _**fireofinuyashas**_ (No problem, sorry to hear about your bronchitus, I don't know how to spell it either (winks) not without WORD's help anyway...You obsessed friend reminds me of another girl I know (hehe) who's obsessed with all anime and talks in a high pitch voice that on occasion drives me up the wall, even though I know she can't help it. I haven't heard from anyone who calls Kagome "kago" tho...hope you get better!) _**Hell Hound**_ (thank you, but what's confusing? If you tell me I will try to explain it...if I've left anyone confused that's MY fault and I need to know as a writer...thank you!) _**Tiamath**_ (Thank you! _I Miss You_ will later have Naraku in it a bit I think, though that storyline has him mostly defeated already by the group b/c they have most of the Jewel in their possession...but otherwise, yes, you're right, it is, and I'm actually really liking it!) _**Hikaru1617**_ (one guess now who she ran into...hehe...an old acqauintance...) Well i think that's everybody...Preview time!

_Looking up at her insult Inuyasha frowned, shook his head once, "Nope lady—you got the wrong brother. Talk to Sesshomaru if you want a son of a bitch." The intercom buzzed and fuzzed out for a second, reminding Inuyasha that he still had his finger over the button. He pulled back from it just in time to hear Sesshomaru's voice come over the line. _

_"I fail to find your crude jokes humorous, little brother." He muttered in a monotone, though Inuyasha smirked when he noticed that Inutaisho apparently **did** find it humorous: his laughter could be heard in the background, undermining Sesshomaru's seriousness._

Well, laters! R and R!


	6. Uncertainties

**Disclaimer:** Nope

**A/N:** Okay guys, in a hurry today...gotta get dressed (yea I know it's late and I slept in...) but I got stuff to do...family's yelling at me...also I gotta write stuff that's original so that I can get published...seriously...anyway, it's still warm here, had a wimpy storm that dumped rain and now our basement is spider heaven. Every minute there's another creepy crawly out grinning at you...seriously, my sister found two down there in one minute and then my mom caught one upstairs at the same time...it's ridiculous...THREE spiders in ONE minute's time...Anyway, this is all happening the same day as what happened last chapter (but in the evening)and I think that it explains itself...I don't know if Kanna's name is spelled right, is that how you spell it? Kanna? Well, enjoy, red and review!

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* * *

****Uncertainties**

_(April 30th: two days after the murders)_

* * *

Only a few minutes after her mother had finished talking to her, Kagome was bombarded by another call. She instinctively knew who it was without looking at the caller ID yet again, and when she pressed the glowing, red-highlighted "On" button she'd already formulated what her first words would be to her partner: "Sango, if you called Miroku and tried to rat me out for Inu—_Mr. Aikenka_ following me home, I'm going to request a new partner." 

The snort from the other end made her start breathing again, even though she hadn't really been aware that she'd ceased. It was a signal to her that Sango hadn't reported her brief run in with their hanyou suspect. "Kagome—I wish you didn't do that "I know who this is before you even say hello" garbage. It scares the heebie-jeebies outta me."

Kagome flinched, unaware that she had even been doing it. The intuition of the Higurashi clan strikes again! "I'm sorry Sango…I guess I just didn't want to waste time with hellos."

Another snort from Sango, this one more amused, "So you're _that_ concerned about me reporting you and that _sexy_ "Mr. Aikenka" to Kazana?"

Despite the blush that immediately filtered over Kagome's cheeks she tried to deny it, "No! He's not that sex—I mean attractive."

Sango sighed into the phone, making Kagome wince and pull the earpiece away from her a short ways, "Ah," she snickered, "Young lovers…"

"That's _not_ funny, Sango!" _too bad I couldn't say that I wish it were possible…_ "Do you know the amount of trouble I'd be in!" she hissed.

There was a pause from the demon slayer and Kagome immediately knew that she'd done or said rather, something horribly wrong. Finally: "You say that as if you could _actually_ be stupid enough to even actually _think_ about him that way, Kagome."

"No I didn't!" she tried to defend herself and was only too painfully aware of its inherent lameness.

"Yes you did. First of all, Kagome, you know what they teach us about demons and half demons. That Inuyasha guy you're getting all dreamy eyed about could be lying to you up one side and down the other and you wouldn't have one little clue about it!"

"I know, I know…" she muttered, hating the truth of her partner's words, "Half-demons can draw on miko energy because they're part human…" she only barely managed to stop herself from sighing sadly, not a good thing to do if one is trying to stop one's partner from believing that one does not actually have an enormous crush on the prime suspect in the case. Even so she couldn't stop herself from defending this hanyou from Sango's onslaught. "But this half-demon is registered with us and has been since birth. We know what he _really_ looks like, so he can't fool any of the mikos or houshis that way…"

"True," Sango admitted, allowing Kagome that much, but her voice was still loaded with caution and disapproval, "But he _can_ fool lie-detecting mikos and houshis, and even aura-readers…there are probably still a dozen other abilities they have that no one really knows about too! You are tangoing with one very _serious_ problem, Kagome…"

"But I don't think he killed those kitsunes! Honestly Sango…"

Her partner scoffed, "He didn't strike me as obviously guilty but you know how hanyous are. Maybe the guy that we interviewed wasn't the killer, and maybe the one that followed you home _was…_you see where I'm going with this? Half-demons are _two_ personalities, sometimes more than that even! He's innocent one moment and the next he's slitting you open from chest to navel and playing with your guts like party streamers…you gotta remember that Kagome, that's why these rules are in place…" (A/N: Party streamer guts! Ah! Oh the terrible visual! But I gotta love Sango's spiel, reminds me of someone I know but I'm not actually sure who…maybe my sister…?)

"I know—you're right! And it's not as if I was seriously thinking of talking to him, you know! I put a restraining spell on him even before I'd hung up on you."

There was a pause and when Sango spoke again she sounded distinctly relieved, "Really? What was the keyword?"

"Sit." She blushed at her own dangerous pun. She knew that it'd upset the hanyou a lot and almost regretted being unable to remove it…

The demon slayer burst out laughing. "That's priceless! Kagome I thought that Kouga's _Stay_ command was perfect enough, but the half-demon _is_ a dog!" her laughter choked the line and made Kagome feel miserable.

"He didn't like it too much…" she mumbled unhappily.

"Who honestly cares what he thought?" Sango chuckled, too amused to scold Kagome for her conscience seriously. "Just remember, like I keep telling you, they teach the slayers this very early on…repeat after me, Kagome: _Demons are not human. They do not deserve humane treatment. They do not **give** humane treatment. Feel no guilt and have no mercy…_feel better yet?" (A/N: Hehe! _'Feel better yet?'_ Can you tell I'm having way too much fun with Sango's character right here?)

Kagome scowled at her phone, "Yeah, Sango, lots…"

* * *

"I'm sorry, Inuyasha," the snooty secretary blinked at him, "You're just going to have to wait—like everyone else." She picked up her nail file and started to rub it against her nails again, the scratching sound made Inuyasha grind his teeth, ready to tear her apart. 

"Look lady," he snarled, leaning closer to her over the desk, "It's my _father_ and my _brother_ in there meeting together. Half the time they drag me in their right after their lame-asses as it is, and you _know_ that, damn it!" he pounded one fist against her desk for good measure in the brute force area, and enjoyed her flinch at the noise a little too much. The demon was stirring too easily just beneath his skin…

"Now—let me the hell in there!" he growled, pulling away just enough to cross his arms over his chest as he glared at her.

Lindsey Hickson—that was her name—opened her mouth to speak, but never quite got the chance because at that moment her intercom bleeped and she jumped at the sound, tense. Her face flushed when she noticed that Inuyasha was smirking at her reaction, clearly enjoying her discomfort. She scowled and pressed the red responding button, waiting for her boss's message.

"Lindsey?" came Inutaisho's gruff voice, to her surprise, not Sesshomaru's.

She held down the button to answer, "Yes, Mr. Inutaisho Aikenka?" she swallowed nervously. Dealing with Sesshomaru was bad enough! At least her boss was quiet when something ticked him off, Inutaisho and Inuyasha were both open hotheads…she avoided Inuyasha's drilling gaze as she listened to Inutaisho's response.

"Is my son out there?"

Lindsey threw the aforementioned second born a calculated, vengeful glare and leaned forward to answer quickly before she lost her nerve: "No, he's in his office with you, Mr. Inutaisho Aikenka."

Inuyasha snarled and lunged for her fingers. Lindsey squealed and jumped backward, relinquishing her hold over the intercom easily enough, despite her audacity. The hanyou pressed down the button and growled into the thing, "Fire this secretary's snooty ass, will ya Dad?"

Lindsey blanched noticeably. "Why you little son of a bitch!" she muttered, only to cover her lips with both hands in shock at her outburst.

Looking up at her insult Inuyasha frowned, shook his head once, "Nope lady—you got the wrong brother. Talk to Sesshomaru if you want a son of a bitch." The intercom buzzed and fuzzed out for a second, reminding Inuyasha that he still had his finger over the button. He pulled back from it just in time to hear Sesshomaru's voice come over the line.

"I fail to find your crude jokes humorous, little brother." He muttered in a monotone, though Inuyasha smirked when he noticed that Inutaisho apparently _did_ find it humorous: his laughter could be heard in the background, undermining Sesshomaru's seriousness.

"So can I come in now, _Dad?"_ he made sure to address his father and not Sesshomaru, though it was actually his older brother's office, and his older brother's secretary.

"Can it wait?" Came Inutaisho's voice again, smoothed and clear cut, straight back to business after his quick laugh.

Inuyasha felt his ears flatten in irritation, and couldn't help but look to Lindsey, praying that she wasn't some latent miko and could see his white dog ears…fortunately he saw that she was focused on his face, glaring at him as if she thought she could make him spontaneously combust if she thought hard enough at him. He smirked, irritation gone when he took one look at her and thought about torturing her some more.

His finger squished the red button again, "Nope, it can't Dad. You and Sesshy have some stuff you need to explain to me, pronto…oh, and I wasn't kidding when I said you should fire this secretary…" he threw Lindsey another mischievous smirk, "Unless Sesshy has a thing for her anyway…"

"Shut up and get in here." Inutaisho again, and this time he had stifled the laughter.

The hanyou pulled back from the intercom and saluted it silently, "Yes sir!" he mumbled and stomped past Lindsey's glares to the office door, which he forced open with one sure bump of his hip. The office was dimly lit, Sesshomaru's eyesight was delicate and he liked things dim if he could get it that way. It was times like that that Inuyasha was very thankful that he wasn't a full inuyoukai. Human eyesight had some advantages: like daylight didn't always give him a splitting migraine. It was a wonder, Inuyasha thought in a rare moment of compassion, that Inutaisho didn't act like he had a stick shoved up his ass too…_Mother's influence?_ He wondered idly, and then erased all thought as he met Sesshomaru's very angry glare.

"Say what is it that's so important, Inuyasha," he half-growled, a rare show of emotion from the usually so frigid inuyoukai, "And then get out or I'll kill you."

Inuyasha snorted, unimpressed. "Same old promise, Sesshy, but you never pay up!" he stepped past his half-brother and faced his father instead, giving s small bow of respect—something he never offered Sesshomaru despite the fact that his sibling was also a clear elder…by how much was it again? 200 years? Or had it been more like 400? He'd forgotten ages ago.

"Father." He mumbled the formal greeting, face still lowered.

"Inuyasha." Inutaisho nodded once, acknowledging his second born. "Have you come merely to trouble your older brother, or do you genuinely have news?"

When the half-demon looked up at his father now his face was twisted in the beginnings of anger. "Dad, do you remember my dream in the hotel while we were on our way home?" he watched Sesshomaru stiffly walk to stand beside but just behind Inutaisho as Inuyasha spoke and felt his face contort into yet another smirk, "You know, the one I had right after we were done visiting _Mother…_" it had always been a sore topic between Inutaisho and Sesshomaru: Inuyasha's human mother, Izayoi Aigyou.

Inutaisho narrowed his eyes knowingly at Inuyasha, abruptly hating his second born son's cleverness. Sesshomaru's expression was particularly cold and unmerciful that night, and Inutaisho could sense it growing steadily worse. "Yes, _Inuyasha,"_ he half growled, letting the half-demon know that he had caught onto his mischief. "I remember it."

The hanyou glared suddenly at Sesshomaru. Though none of them could see it Inuyasha's ears folded backward in irritation. "Can I talk to Father alone, Sesshomaru?"

Now the ball was in Sesshomaru's court and though he never really showed it, the inuyoukai was wallowing in the reversal of positions. "Whatever you have to say to Father in _my_ office can be done while I am present, little brother," his voice clearly smirked though his face showed little, if any, change, "Or it can wait until later."

Inuyasha stiffened, scowled at Sesshomaru, "It's seven o'clock already you bastard! Don't you have some bitch to go home to, even if you have to pay her megabucks to stay?"

Two sets of golden eyes narrowed at him now and Inuyasha glanced to his father in mild confusion. "What?"

"Speak your mind, Inuyasha, and leave your brother alone. This _is_ his office." Inutaisho chided, sighing tiredly as he settled into Sesshomaru's very plush executive's chair.

_Damn you, Dad!_ "I met the woman." He blurted, unable, and unwilling, to elaborate with Sesshomaru so near—and for good reason!

"I suppose you had to pay her with our father's money to get her to even meet you, Inuyasha?" Sesshomaru snarled, noticeably sneering this time.

"Fuck you!"

"Inuyasha!" Inutaisho bellowed furiously, glaring in warning. A steady pain was beginning to build behind his eyes watching his offspring bantering. _God help me—Izayoi, did I single-handedly teach this pup of ours all this language?_

"Didn't you hear what he—"

"You said almost the exact same thing to him a few seconds ago, Inuyasha." Now Inutaisho had buried his face in the palm of one hand, wondering silently if _he_ had been so obnoxious as a pup too…

Sesshomaru, the hands down, wordless winner, stood near Inutaisho where he was sitting at his eldest son's desk, regretting his decision to allow Inuyasha in to speak with him. Across the expanse of the desk Inuyasha and Sesshomaru continued to exchange glares until the elder of the two seemingly lost interest and turned his eyes toward the ceiling, bored out of his mind.

Inuyasha let out a strangled growl, "Okay, whatever, never mind!" he slammed his butt down into one of the chairs that surrounded Sesshomaru's desk, which was currently occupied by their father. "I ran into the woman I dreamed about today at the Agency when they interrogated me…" he scowled at the memory of the event, his mind reabsorbed by the terrible images of blood and carnage, a bloodlust kill…he was so preoccupied that he failed to note the sudden change of expression that registered on his father's face. Even Sesshomaru turned his golden eyes back on his younger brother, intrigued in spite of his disgusted and utterly bored façade.

Before Inutaisho could speak up Sesshomaru did, asking: "Did they have a convincing case against you?"

Inuyasha looked up, blinking away his troubling memories and frowning deeply. "We all know I sure as _hell_ didn't do it!" he looked to his father as if for further support, "I mean I wasn't even here when it happened…"

"They assured me that you were identified by a surviving eye-witness." Sesshomaru's eyes were narrowed threateningly at his younger brother, almost with suspicion.

The hanyou growled, low and dangerously. "Damn it you jackass! How could I have done it when I was all the way in San Francisco visiting Mom? Huh? Not such a smartass now, eh?"

"Perhaps, little brother, you have an identical twin…? Dare I suggest that we call the whore that you think of as a mother and ask her if she remembers?" Sesshomaru asked, his monotone now slightly sarcastic but still cold as ice.

Inutaisho lost his patience and abruptly stood up, his voice thundering over both his sons. "Both of you—_silence!"_ Sesshomaru obeyed wordlessly, though his last comment was clearly what had made the patriarch of the family lose his cool. The eldest Aikenka was clearly walking on _very_ thin ice…Inuyasha smirked across the desk, knowing full well that the tables had been turned yet again—Sesshomaru was now in trouble while he was home free.

Inutaisho turned first to Inuyasha, his lips in a white line, his jaw muscles taut, "Inuyasha, no one in this room is accusing you of anything. We know that you are innocent—your alibi is undeniable because not only was I with you, but your mother was there too. Plane tickets and hotel reservations should stop the Agency from having _any_ suspicion…" when Inuyasha said nothing to protest, simply nodded once in understanding, Inutaisho faced Sesshomaru next.

"Sesshomaru." He said his eldest son's name in almost a grunt.

"Yes, Father?" the younger inuyoukai remained stoic and calm, but the golden eyes blazed nonetheless.

"Get out of this office, I must speak to your brother alone."

A muscle at Sesshomaru's temple twitched repeatedly. "Would it happen to be about this twin that his mother lost when he was born?"

Inutaisho's face was bright red with rage. Inuyasha, a short distance away, was trying to contain his snickering at his brother's stupidity. He'd thought that Sesshomaru would learn, over time, that insulting Izayoi never brought a good outcome for him. But rather than learn Sesshomaru seemed to be made of lead, so thick that the lesson never reached him properly. Perhaps his simple hatred of his father's love for a mere mortal woman, and his favoring of their resulting pup, had blinded the otherwise stoic inuyoukai.

"No—but if you don't leave soon and without another word it might well be about his replacing _you_ as my heir."

_That_ drew a real expression of hatred from Sesshomaru, first directed at his father and then pointed at Inuyasha as he turned on his heel and walked heavily from the room. When the door had closed behind him with an audible click, Inutaisho's posture finally relaxed and he turned slowly to align himself with Sesshomaru's chair again, collapsing into it with a heavy sigh of what almost sounded like defeat. After a long pause he finally looked up at Inuyasha, his face fatigued.

"Now…what was this about a woman you dreamed about at the…Agency…?"

Inuyasha nodded seriously, though his gaze lingered uncertainly on his human disguised hands in his lap. "Yeah, I saw her walking in just behind her partner and she stared at me and I—"

"What!" Inutaisho blinked, scowling openly, "Her partner, did you say?"

Inuyasha nodded again, sensing that something was quite wrong.

"So she's an agent? The woman you dreamed about is an agent…?"

"Yes." Another nod and a nervous shifting in his chair as he met his father's intense, golden eyed stare.

"She wasn't one of those who interrogated you, was she…?"

"Yes, actually she was…one of the mikos."

Inutaisho pounded one fist against Sesshomaru's mahogany desk. "Shit!" realizing what he'd said Inutaisho swiveled—once again in Sesshomaru's chair—to hide the red creep of a blush that swarmed over his face. _I'm sorry Izayoi; I suppose it really was me that taught him how to curse…_

"Dad…?" came the confused question from Inuyasha behind him.

Inutaisho rose to his feet, straightened his shirt and his tie as he planned out his next words carefully. "Inuyasha—I suppose your mother has told you of how she and I met each other, am I right?"

The hanyou was blinking rather stupidly, "Uh…" he searched his mind, trying to remember his earlier, childhood years when Izayoi had been the only thing in his world, when his father and older half-brother had been things she'd whispered as bedtime stories…before Inutaisho had come back for his second born a few years previously, as he had promised Izayoi he would…

He scowled, the white dog-ears turned backward, though his father was unable to see them through the shielding spell that hid his real features. "Mom said it was in an airport, waiting for the next flight to LA—she was traveling with that weird guy her grandparents betrothed her to for the sake of their business…" he scowled, having actually seen numerous pictures of that "weird guy" a few times.

Inutaisho settled into Sesshomaru's plush executive's chair once again, sighing heavily as the air in the cushions of the black leather-stuff whooshed out like a thundering ox exhaling. Slowly his golden eyes met up with his son's—which were, of course, identical. "I suppose she didn't tell you that she'd been dreaming about me in the nights…"

His son blinked, again, confusedly. "No…" a furious frown stole over his face then and Inuyasha growled irritably, "Damn it Dad! You know I've lived my whole life with you pulling this sorta crap on me! Why don't you ever tell me about this stuff when it happens?"

His father sighed, regretting his choice of silence in the hotel now but unwilling still to admit it. "Inuyasha, I don't tell you everything that _could_ happen to you because it is exactly that: only a slight possibility. How was I supposed to know that you would actually meet the woman?" he scowled suddenly, remembering the full details, "A _miko…"_

Inuyasha groaned, "You still haven't quite answered my question Dad: What does it mean?"

Golden eyes met golden eyes. Father and son stared each other down for a moment, waiting for the other one to make a move…finally Inutaisho sighed and looked away as he spoke. "Your mother and I shared prophetic dreams of each other just before we met. We were in the right position at the right time, and we could both gain from the other. She needed to escape her grandparents' foolish marriage arrangement and I needed to disappear from Japan…" Inutaisho regularly faked his own death, changed his last name and started all over in a new city or, sometimes, in a new country. It just didn't seem natural to humans when another seemingly normal man lived for hundreds and hundreds of years…

"…So…?"

"So when we happened to need each other the dreams ensured that we met."

Inuyasha snorted, "That's lame! What does it have to do with Kagome and I?" when his father stared at him incredulously at his use of the miko's name, Inuyasha grumbled incoherently under his breath and blushed unrestrainedly.

Before he spoke again Inutaisho watched his son's reaction and, though he didn't smile outwardly, inwardly his amusement was unrestrained. _Wow he's sure moving in on her fast…so much for her miko training from the Agency…_

"It would be my guess, Inuyasha, that you have need of her and she has need of you…" he shrugged, assuming the colder, Sesshomaru-like mask again.

"Wait a second…" Inuyasha leaned forward, his eyes narrowed suspiciously as his father, "You're saying you and Mom started off as sorta…" he scowled, trying to find a good term for it, "Business partners?" he choked on the words, incredulously. He'd always heard it indirectly from his mother that Inutaisho and she had more or less been set on becoming lovers from the moment they laid eyes on one another in that Tokyo airport. The way Inutaisho now made it sound suggested that it had been a relieved sort of partnership. He was starting to get a headache…

Inutaisho's lips thinned to a hard, white line of stress. _Izayoi I know that you gave our pup the birds and the bees talk—so is he just doing this to embarrass me? Sometimes I wish he were Sesshomaru's twin, not so obviously **my** son. Sesshomaru would've never made me elaborate on something like this…_

"I was explaining to you _why_ the dreams attach two people together…"

This time Inuyasha didn't miss the discomfort in his father's face, in his position. He realized with a jolt that although Inutaisho obstinately refused to admit more to the "prophetic dreams" business, there _was_ more to it, and Inuyasha had already felt it himself. He swallowed nervously, remembering the way the miko's scent drove him crazy…likely the matured, stoic Inutaisho, looking to start over in the U.S. had been so wild about the innocent, young, and reluctantly betrothed Izayoi that he'd dragged her away caveman style over his shoulder.

Abruptly Inuyasha averted his eyes from his father's, paling a little and shuddering inwardly at the thought—though he had to thank them for it, he did owe his life to their affair.

"So what do I do?" he mumbled, more to himself than to his father.

Inutaisho shrugged. "Talk to the miko…what was her name?" _I'll probably have to remember it because if it's like I think it is she'll make me a grandfather…_

Without even thinking Inuyasha replied, in a warm, almost sleepy voice, "Kagome…"

He missed his father's smirk—which Inutaisho was very much grateful for. _Sure enough—just as I thought…_he sighed, moving on to darker dealings. "I'm going to call your mother in to testify that between the both of us you were in San Francisco when this murder happened, and no matter how much the killer looks like you, you're innocent …"

Inuyasha's face was stern and somber again. "Damn straight! Stupid assholes in the Agency…"

Inutaisho growled tiredly, "Clean up that mouth."

"Yes sir."

The hanyou rose to walk toward the door just as Inutaisho called after him, "Find Sesshomaru and send him back in here Inuyasha!"

"Okay, I'll track the son of a bitch down…" the door opened and closed before his father could correct his "language" again and Inuyasha stormed off down the hall, throwing Lindsey Hickson one last glare as he sauntered past.

* * *

She stared down at the young miko, her face tight, unhappy. A part of her envied the unconscious mortal woman—scratch that thought—_all_ of her envied the miko. The young woman had lived a life of freedom up until now and her unfortunate run-in with Naraku, and _that_ she envied, greatly…even the woman's mortality she could desire… 

Kagura looked up, her gaze become unfocused as she allowed herself to voice the thought: _If I were mortal I would've long ago died of old age and Naraku would never be able to bother me once I'm dead and rotting…_

Or—the afterlife? She stilled her features, thinking of it. Death: the surest way to freedom. If she died by her own hand she'd be spared whatever horrible things Naraku had planned for her. All his twisted schemes to make others suffer for his own enjoyment or personal gain…perhaps her death might even stall his games for a short time; she might be doing the world a favor, no matter how brief. Certainly at the least it was noble, and far preferable to sitting about what had once been her sanctuary, her freedom, her apartment, her home.

It was the right thing to do.

Kagura rose slowly up from where she had been kneeling on her living room floor beside the young miko woman that Naraku had carted back with him from wherever he'd gone. For a last, lingering moment Kagura took in the miko and wondered vaguely why her brother had taken a sadistic interest in the agent. This miko was not stunningly beautiful, but she _was_ good-looking. Kagura hadn't seen her eye-color—she'd been passed out cold the whole time—but the woman _did _have a finely shaped body, a nice, oval-shaped face, and long, straight black hair. Asleep she had a cold, serene stillness to her that Kagura doubted most people bore while in such a state. She wondered if it reflected the woman's waking expressions at all.

When Naraku had carried the girl in, bridal style in his arms, like a lover or a caring father, Kagura had felt ill to her stomach. Seeing her expression Naraku had only smiled at her cunningly and announced that he had brought her a miko to keep her company. Silently glaring, though she knew Naraku got nothing from it but amusement, she'd watched as he set the young woman beside her and vanished once again to pick up 'Little Sister.' He'd been gone ever since, which was a good ten minutes.

It wouldn't last much longer…

Kagura slipped out of the living room, silent as a wraith. Her feet were bare; her toes gripped the carpet. Each step was both a dream and terror. Her eyes—red as her miserable brother's now that she had removed the charm spell in her earrings—were glazed with grim determination as well as fear.

If I make it into that bedroom…can I do it? Will it work? Could I really end it all? And…do I want to? 

Despite her fears she pressed onward, the need, the longing for freedom too powerful for Kagura to resist, no matter what terrors clutched at her chest, stealing her breath away.

She opened the door to her bedroom. The wooden dresser and nightstand, the closet full of clothes, the red and purple covers, the yellow pillows and the laptop plugged in and still charging next to one wall…they were all things of a dream now, lost to her. Utterly useless. The pain that stirred inside her at seeing them for what they now were: freedoms she would never truly possess, made her bite her lips and look away.

The nightstand beside her brightly colored bed—another thing she's made sure was showy and vibrant, an example of how she wanted to be alive and free, and she wanted everyone to know about it—was the destination she'd wanted all along. She tenderly slid the first drawer open and dug through the notebooks, bottles of make up and some aerosol spray deodorants until she caught the dull gleam of something black and sinisterly beautiful just underneath.

Her long, supple fingers wrapped about the thing and gingerly pulled it out. It was heavy in her hands, it sunk straight to her lap and rested there like a stone: black, cold, solid and the ultimate symbol of finality.

It's the only way out… 

Kagura took a deep breath in, savoring the feel of it in her lungs for what she hoped would be the last time.

She lifted the gun, parted her lips, and accepted the nozzle, cold and foreign, into her mouth. Her fingers shifted, slid along the length, found the trigger's home…_one, two—_

Pain coursed through her heart and Kagura gasped, tearing the gun away from her, throwing it onto the bed. She clutched at her heart, feeling the breath-stealing, mind-twisting pain that writhed there, and thought that, just maybe, she might die of it and be saved after all…but she was wrong, as usual.

Naraku's feet appeared within her line of vision as the pain left her in a cold, numbed, paralyzed sweat of cold dread. _I failed…_

"Sister!" his voice came, feigning concern though it came out in a dull monotone. "What's going on here?"

"You…" she coughed, struggled to breathe in again, "…Bastard."

He laughed, enjoying her suffering. "How noble of you, Kagura. Same old story with you then, is it? Haven't had enough of a taste of freedom yet?" he sighed, as if he truly cared, though she knew better, "I'm afraid that I can't let you exorcize that ultimate display of freedom just yet."

She didn't miss the sadistic smirk in his voice and knew, without a doubt, that he would not let her survive whatever his latest fiasco was. He would let her be one of his victims this time, not just a pawn that he allowed to live for a later date. Her eyes settled close as evil fate closed his hands over her throat, squeezed her into submission.

"Get up, Sister." He ordered above her, though all she could make out were his shoes, the top of a pant leg. "I've brought Little Sister and the miko needs a little…" she heard his voice twist, hissing with enjoyment, "…Surgery, I'm afraid."

"I was a journalist, not a surgeon." She reminded him, bitterly.

He chuckled, "Oh Kagura, there you go—that's the spirit. You don't get to do that much yet, you just get to watch…" she felt his cold hand on her shoulder, shuddered under his unnatural touch, "Get up."

Like the slave that she was she followed him back into _her_ living room, glaring at his backsides with every atom of hate that she had within her, though she knew it did nothing but inflate his ego, was merely another sign of his victory over her…the miko was still peacefully, blissfully unaware on the floor, passed out. A little, seemingly helpless form was crouched at the young woman's side, blonde hair spilling over her shoulders and blue eyes directed at the floor, a lost, saddened expression there. She wore a pretty, frilly little girl's dress that made Kagura scowl.

"You've changed Little Sister's charm spell, Naraku?" she growled behind him, watching as her brother coldly took a position opposite their youngest sister, on the other side of the unconscious miko. He never bothered to answer Kagura's question—she had become suddenly unimportant.

"Kanna," he murmured, "Does she have _it?_"

"Have what, Naraku? Why are you interested in this poor stupid woman…" Kagura added the last of her thought internally, her face twisted in hatred: _Why are you interested in making **me** miserable as well? Isn't the miko enough? Me or the miko you bastard…_

Again, probably only because he knew it annoyed her, Naraku ignored her, narrowing his eyes at their youngest sibling instead, demanding an answer out of the little girl. "Does she have it? Is she the one?" he blustered, frustrated.

Kanna lifted her little girl's blue eyes, which were expressionless for the most part, wide and empty like the fathomless depths of an undersea trench, buried in miles of water, and slowly, almost imperceptibly, shook her head negatively. "No."

"What!" he hissed, snarling down suddenly at the miko's form in a rage that Kagura didn't understand, "Then why does the little whore have an aura that…" he stopped, his red eyes slowly becoming unfocused, lost in thought. Kagura and Kanna were silent, waiting for their master to come out of his trance of thought. When he did the only sign of it was a small blink as he raised one hand up and placed it almost hesitantly on the unconscious miko's side…

"What are you doing to her, Naraku?" Kagura asked, her voice low.

Yet again he didn't answer, just sneered after a moment and then lifted his hand, closing it in a furious fist. His red gaze was narrowed with rage; his body shook with it. Without realizing it, Kagura flinched a little at the intensity of her brother's emotion, feeling it as a wave of energy that tore at her through the thin air of the room. Finally he released his pent up emotion by slapping the sleeping miko across the face, so hard the woman's head jerked to one side and stayed there—she moaned in her sleep, cringed.

"Bitch." He spat and looked to Kanna again, eyes narrowed dangerously. "Show me, Kanna, show me the other miko that's so similar to this one…"

The little girl paused and then began, obediently, to dig in a small, child's purse at her side. She unclipped the thing and slowly, almost with reticence as if the thing she handled were holy, pulled out a small rounded vanity mirror…it was bright pink around the edges and sprinkled with sparkles, cursive handwriting revealed it to be "Barbie's Mirror."

Naraku's face contorted with disgust. "Remove the damned charm spell from the mirror, Kanna, before I kill you."

Without the slightest trace of fear, though Kagura had stiffened sympathetically where she stood some distance away, leaning against the back of the sofa, Kanna waved a hand over the pink thing and the bright, gaudy child's color vanished. In its wake the mirror was normal, completely unadorned. Naraku's face relaxed, as if "Barbie" had hurt him somehow before and now he could breathe easier, he sighed slightly and repeated his request in a gentler, more passive tone, "Show me the _real_ miko, Kanna."

The mirror in the little girl's arms flashed, flickered. Kagura moved forward slowly, cautiously, hoping not to set Naraku's flaring temper off as she did so, but at once drawn by their littlest sister's display. Naraku showed no such eagerness, he merely waited, his face drawn taut, his red eyes unmoving as he stared…

In the mirror a face appeared, almost identical to the unconscious miko on the floor. She was pretty, but lighter, giddier than the miko they were currently torturing. Her hand clasped a cordless phone that she was speaking into animatedly, her cheeks brightened in a blush. Her brown eyes gleamed with light and the strong spiritual power that drove her through the world… Naraku smiled, sadistically satisfied.

"Very good, Kanna." He nodded once, red eyes heavy on her, looking between the mirror and the child, "What is her name?"

"Higurashi Kagome." Kanna murmured, her eyes clouded, unfocused, her voice was cold and without emotion.

Naraku smirked, "Kagome…" he purred, his lips opening up in a wide smile while his red eyes gleamed evilly, "I'll see you soon…"

* * *

Endnote: Gotta hurry... 

THANK YOU: _**InuAndMiroku'sGirl Sango, NefCanuck, agent-doo, SlummyRedDragon, blackcoat-245, fanfiction1, toxiclollipop, fireofinuyashas**_ (Hehe, yes i've run into numerous ppl who should've graduated but didn't...my locker mate was one of them actually. He'll return for a semester next year while I'm away at college to pass one class...dummy, that's all I can say...) _**Mad-4-Manga**_ (yes, it was Naraku, and as for email: I have 61 email messages currently (grins) but it was 70 before I started going through the reviews for this story...must hurry...)

Well that's the end of that for now...no preview, I've been busily writing _WOAWO_ trying to finish that one up, and I've been rereading my original novels and digging up publishers...gotta get published dang it! Money! Thank you all again! next chapter soon (probably 3 days maybe...?) Later!


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